


i'd rather try to hold on to you forever

by ArwenP



Series: superfamily prompts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Kid Peter Parker, M/M, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Superfamily, Superfamily (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:22:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22886257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenP/pseuds/ArwenP
Summary: Everything in their world seems to be perfect- until it shattersbut beauty can be found in the darkest times, right?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: superfamily prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645093
Comments: 74
Kudos: 183





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so, I've published this story before, in the compilations of one-shots I have, but i've added things to this one, and I really wanted to start publishing those one-shots as stand-alone, rather than a big, big world. hope you enjoy!

“Papa!”

Steve smiled at the voice of his little son and quickly kneeled to catch the excited form of seven-year-old Peter.

“Hi á stór! Why are you in such a hurry, baby?”

Peter giggled, and then gestured for Steve to get closer. Steve only smiled wider and did as told, resting his forehead against Peter’s much smaller one. The kid turned his head a little bit and whispered into his ear:

“I have a surprise for you, Papa”

“Oh, really? Can you tell me what is it?”

Peter laughed, shaking his head.

“No! If I tell you it’s not a surprise!”

“Then when can I see it?”

“Now! Come, Daddy is waiting for you in the kitchen!”

Steve laughed and stood up, picking his son up and resting him against his hip. Even when Peter was seven years old -barely, mind you-, he was a small child. It wasn’t that surprising: Tony and also him -before the serum- were not too tall, so it made sense for their kid to be short as well. Either way, Peter was more than perfect. 

When he entered the kitchen, warmness spread out through his chest. His husband had a beautiful cake -that was in itself falling, clearly made by him and their kid, but it was the most beautiful cake Steve had ever seen. Peter jiggled in his arms, so he quickly put him down and the kid ran towards Tony, who put a steady hand on his shoulder, smiling adoringly towards his husband.

“Surprise, Papa. Pete and I thought we could prepare you a little farewell party”

Steve smiled, going over to the engineer and kissing his lips sweetly.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. Thank you, darling”

“Everything for you” Tony mumbled, smiling when Steve kissed him again. The Captain picked their son again, kissing his cheek numerous times soundly, making Peter laugh. The scene warmed Tony’s heart and for a moment, he wanted to stop time, to prevent Steve from going to the mission. 

“And thank you, too, Bambi. Papa loves this”

Peter smiled brightly, and then he gestured to the table.

“I made you a drawing, Papa, so you can take it with you and show it off!”

“The last term I taught him” Tony piped in. Steve rolled his eyes at him, but the smile didn’t drop off of his lips. He picked the drawing Peter had made, and smiled. It showed Tony, Peter and him; the typical child’s drawing. However, to Steve was a masterpiece. It was his son’s, and it was made specifically for him. Plus, Peter seemed to have inherited some of Steve’s abilities in art, so the drawing was actually not bad at all. Steve had been teaching him, too. 

“It’s beautiful, Peter,” he told his son, kissing his forehead. Peter smiled, happy “. Look, Papa is going to fold it and save it, okay?”

Peter nodded and let Steve do what he said, and then he kissed the side of his head again, cradling it. Tony snapped a picture of the two, smiling. He loved his husband and their son more than anything in the entire world. 

They ate the cake -surprisingly delicious-, and stayed together until it was time. Steve let Tony take a selfie of the three of them, because it was something they usually did if one of the husbands had to leave for a mission. It was an easy way for Peter to miss them less. Steve hugged his son and kissed all of his little sweet face.

“Papa loves you so, so much, Peter. More than anything, you know that, right?” Peter smiled, nodding. Steve smiled, too, and kissed his forehead one last time “. Good, baby. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay Papa”

“I love you, little Bambi”

“Love you too, Papa!”

Steve smiled and put Peter down. Then, he hugged his husband to his body and kissed his lips sweet and slow.

“I’m going to miss you, Doll” he whispered over his lips. Tony smiled sadly and brushed his fingers over his husband’s earlobes, just as Steve loved. 

“We’ll see each other soon. The mission is not going to be that long, only a couple of weeks, right?”

“Right. I just…”

“Yeah, I know” Tony cut him off, knowing what he meant. Ever since Peter’s birth they had decided to take turns with the missions, not wanting to leave Peter completely alone. The mission Steve had to leave for now was big enough for all of the Avengers to go, minus Tony and Colonel Rhodes, and they both hated that “. I’ll miss you, too”

“But I’ll see you soon”

“Yeah”

Steve smiled content and then kissed Tony again.

“I love you, my love. So, so much”

“I love you too, Vita Mia. So, so incredibly much”

Steve smiled one last time and kissed Tony again. Then, he grabbed his things and pocketed his chest: he had his son’s drawing in there, so: he wasn’t forgetting anything. Only, maybe, his heart, but his boys were going to keep that in a really, really safe place. 

“I’ll see you guys soon. I love you”

“I love you, Papa!” His son exclaimed. Steve leaned in to kiss him one last time, pecking his crown, and then kissed Tony, too.

“I love you, too,” Tony said “, please be safe”

Steve nodded and, with a last smile, left the Penthouse. Peter’s lip started to quiver almost immediately, and Tony sighed, opening his arms and picking him up. The kid hid his face on his Dad’s shoulder and cried silently, and Tony just rocked him, patiently. 

Peter always put on a brave face when one of his parents left. He was happy at the farewell ‘party’, and he was all over them in their goodbyes, but, as soon as Tony or Steve disappeared into the elevator, his barriers were usually just… destroyed. It broke the Superhusbands’ heart every time it happened. Tony shushed his kid and kissed the side of his head, and then went to their living room.

“C’mon, Bambi, you and I can do something fun. Like… do you want to see a movie with Daddy? We can pick whichever you want”

Peter sniffed and looked at him, tiny hand rubbing his already red eyes. Tony smiled lovingly and brushed his hands over his son’s wet cheeks, gently. He kissed both of them, and also his little nose. 

“Whichever I want?”

“That’s what I said, baby”

“Can we see Star Wars, Daddy? The one Papa loves”

“Of course, baby. Let’s see that one”

Peter smiled and Tony sat on their sofa, asking FRIDAY to display the movie. Peter accommodated himself on his Dad’s lap and fell asleep not even halfan hour later. Tony let him sleep and ran a hand through his soft curls, absently. He was going to miss Steve, too, but they’d see him soon. With a soft smile, and the end of the movie playing in the background, he too fell asleep. Yeah, he’d see Steve soon.

Except, he didn’t.

Because, you know, Steve went MIA just barely five days later. 

Tony wasn’t expecting it. Sure, they were superheroes; they were Avengers. They knew stuff could get hard, they knew their lives were fragile. But, at the same time, they fought to come home, and they always, always, wanted to go back to their little paradise, with their son and their partner. So, Tony never thought Steve wouldn’t make it. It didn’t make sense, not with his husband, not with his Steve. It just didn’t. 

He was working in his lab when Rhodey came in with the news, looking more serious than Tony had ever seen him. He, of course, was the chosen one to tell Tony the news: he was his best friend, and his rock since he’d been fourteen years old. Plus, the Colonel wanted to be the one breaking Tony the news. He knew the genius, and he knew how he could react to them. And… he knew he was one of the only people in the world able to deal with Tony when he was like that. So, even when he was heartbroken, too, he decided to go down to the labs and talk to the engineer. He didn’t want to do it in the Penthouse, where Peter could hear them -the kid was in school, anyways, but… Rhodey preferred to be cautious. 

The second he saw his best friend, Tony knew something was wrong. And, the moment he saw Rhodey’s tearful eyes, he just _knew_. His husband was not coming home. 

_How_ , he had asked, _when, who… why_. _Why._ ** _Why_**. 

Rhodey didn’t know much. The only thing sure was that the _entire_ team sent to the mission was Missing. They had been for a few days, but authorities had thought it’d be wiser to just not tell so until they knew for sure. Of course, Tony thought it was fucking _stupid_. With his intellect maybe they could’ve been able to find something, anything. But now, his husband and the major part of their family were just… gone. Their bodies nowhere to be found, but gone. Rhodey said no one had high hopes of finding them, let alone finding them alive… he said it was going to be public soon, and that they should prepare for the PR chaos. Tony knew, of course he did. He grew up in the spotlight, after all, but Tony… Tony was not there.

Because his husband was dead.

And he was not.

And they had Peter. 

They were parents.

They had sworn to always be there for their kid

But Steve was not

Could not, any more

Because he was _dead_

Rhodey always told Tony how fucking terrifying it’d been to look at him. He had expected him to have a panic attack. He had prepared himself to help him with his breathing, with his heart, with something _physical_. But Tony just… stared. He just stared with a blank gaze, barely breathing.

He thought it was funny Rhodey thought he could act like he had a broken heart.

Truth is: he didn’t have a heart anymore

Because Steve had died

And he had taken it with him.

“You know, they’re not saying killed in action” Rhodey had been talking for almost two hours now, trying to get his best friend to talk, to react, to do something, _anything,_ goddamnit “. They think there’s still a chance he’s alive. They don’t know about all of the others, but they have high hopes for them as well. They’re not dead, Tones, just missing”.A single tear escaped Tony’s eyes, but he didn’t bother to clean it “. Tony, come on, say something. Please, I’m worried”

“What hour is it?” He asked, weakly. His voice was barely a whisper, but Rhodey heard him.

“A little over three p.m, Tony. Why?”

“Peter will come soon,” he said, look still blank “. He’s gonna come home, and I’ll have to tell him his Papa is gone. I have to tell my son we’re alone from now on”

“But you’re not alone, Tones,” Rhodey said, hugging him tightly to his body. Tony didn’t hug back, but the Colonel didn’t mind. He stroke his back gently, remembering other times, when Tony was a lost kid at MIT “. You have me, and Pepper, and Happy, and Fury, and Maria, and Coulson… we love you, and we love Peter. So, so much”

“Doesn’t matter” Tony mumbled “. It doesn’t matter because my husband is dead, Rhodey”

“MIA” his best friend corrected, but Tony didn’t care about that. 

“He’s not coming home, Jim”

“You don’t know that, okay? You don’t”

“Oh, then what do I tell my kid? That his Papa is not coming home today, but that he still can do it tomorrow, in one year, in twenty? What should I do, make Peter wait for something we both know it’s not happening?”

“How do you know it’s not?”

“Because I know… I knew” he corrected himself “my husband, honey bear. He wouldn’t leave Peter and me alone, Rhodey, not in a million years. If no one can find him, then…”

His voice cracked, but he didn’t cry. Rhodey left shortly after, when Tony told him he preferred to tell his son the news alone. His best friend told him to call him if they needed something, _anything, Tones, please do it_. Tony promised, but he wasn’t sure he’d call. 

He waited until it was time and went to the Penthouse. He usually picked Peter up, but Pepper had told him she was going to that day, something about him needing to finish a few projects on the tip of her tongue. He sat in the living room, looking around and seeing the pictures that made that place a home. Steve had left a book on the table, a marker almost at the end of it. He would never finish it now. 

Telling Peter was the hardest thing Tony had done in his life. His son looked at him with those big Bambi eyes, confused and not knowing what to feel. And looking at them hurt. It hurt, because he saw Steve in those eyes.

Of course, everyone told them Peter had the eyes of his Dad, and it was true. The color, the shape; they resembled Tony’s. But, his _eyes_ , the way he looked around, marvelling, the way his smile lighted them up in a really, really beautiful way. That look, that sweetness they had, how soft they were at times… that was Steve, and no one was telling him otherwise. Steve had tried to, one time, had told him they were like his, like Tony’s, had told him his eyes could be that soft, too. He had told him they were the sweetest eyes he’d ever seen. Of course, Tony hadn’t believed him- Peter’s eyes were also Steve’s, and that was that. And now they were looking at him, heartbroken. Tears were already pooling at them, and a little hand was on Tony’s cheek, petting it in a show of distress since the moment Tony had told him Papa was not coming home.

“What do you mean he’s not coming home, Daddy?” He asked, voice almost a whisper and so, so little “. Doesn’t Papa love me anymore?”

“Oh, no, no, baby” Tony was quick in telling him otherwise. He sat Peter on his lap, hugging him to his body. Pepper had left after he told her what had happened, Peter in his bedroom. She had started to cry, but the businesswoman had quickly left in search of Rhodey and Happy, wanting to give the genius some privacy. Then Peter had come into the room and… Tony kissed his baby boy’s head, trying to calm him down “. Papa loved you more than anything, okay?”

“Then why is he not coming home?”

“He can’t do it, Peter”

“Why?”

Tony bit his lip. What was he supposed to tell his son? Peter was smart - _so, so smart_ -,  which sometimes was a struggle for Steve and him. What was he going to tell him?

“Peter… look, I’m going to be sincere, alright? Because you know Daddy wants to tell you the truth all the time”

Peter nodded, rubbing his eyes, not crying quite yet.

“Okay, Daddy”

“Papa and the rest of the team are not coming home because something went wrong with the mission”

Peter tilted his head a little bit confused.

“Did the bad guys win?”

“No, baby, but Papa and the rest of our family… they disappeared. It’s what we call M.I.A, Pete. Missing in action”

Peter pouted, and some tears started to fall. Tony tried to clean them off, but his son was quickly starting to sob.

“Then that means Papa is dead?”

“We don’t know, Peter. But… yeah, it’s most likely Papa is dead” he said, and immediately cringed. It was breaking him to say those words, because now reality really sunk in. But… he had to be honest with Peter. And with himself, too.

“No!” The kid exclaimed, his little hands slapping Tony’s face in a poor attempt of escaping his hold.

“Peter, please…”

“Papa is not dead! You’re lying, Papa is not dead!”

“Peter, caro mio, I know this is horrible, but…”

“Papa is coming home” the kid kept saying, ugly crying now. Tony felt some tears start to fall off of his eyes, too, unable to hold them anymore “He promised, he promised _me_!”

“He wanted to, Peter, but sometimes things are not the way we wanted them to be, okay? But it’s not your fault, nor it’s Papa’s”

“That’s a lie! He left me alone! I hate him, I hate him!”

“Peter, don’t say that” Tony pleaded. His son’s body was convulsing in sobs now, cries escaping his tiny lips. Tony hugged him to his body, rocking him and crying, too. He had tried to be strong for him, and he had tried to keep his tears for himself. He’d made it with Rhodey, and with Pepper, too, but he was just unable to do it with Peter. His son breaking down like that was more than he could handle “. Please, baby, don’t say that. Papa loved you, he did, he had no choice but leave”

Peter sniffed into his shoulder, shaking his head. 

“No, Daddy. I hate him”

Tony sighed, shaking his head.

“He’s going to miss you just as much as you’re going to miss him, Peter. I swear. But, and hear me out now: you don’t hate him, because Papa has not left you”

“You just said that”

“Well… yeah. And what I said was true: Papa left, because he’s not coming home. _But_ , Peter, Papa is always going to be here” he tapped his son’s heart, and his own “, and here” he tapped their heads. Peter looked at him and started sobbing again, and Tony just started sobbing, too. 

They spend the next days curled up in bed, ignoring the world. Peter sleeps on Steve’s side, and he smells his Papa’s pillow and cries over it. Tony puts on Steve’s favorite sweatshirt, and he cries while he has it on, too. Happy usually goes from three to four times per day to visit them, to make them eat, to keep them alive.

Tony wants to be strong for his son, but he feels like he can’t breathe, can’t eat, can’t just… live. He hugs Peter to his body each night, giving it to exhaustion, and not to sleep. His son just clings to him, and he still says he hates Steve, but it’s a little bit less. Hill and Fury come one day, and they just keep them company. Fury holds a deep sorrow in his eyes, and Hill has to wipe her eyes every few minutes. She ends up curling with them in bed, close to Peter, for a few hours.Fury sits next to Tony and, in a surprisingly tender gesture, runs a hand through his curls. 

Coulson comes, too. He also gets in bed with Tony and Peter, but he does more than that: he makes them food, he forces them to take a shower, and he tells them the world already knows about it. Tony should’ve expected it: Peter’s school knew, and they had let the kid stay at home for a while, knowing losing a parent was something devastating for a little child.

The world is devastated, too. The ‘Avengers’ are trending topic every day; not only the ‘Avengers’, but also the name of every one of them lost. Tony receives hundreds of thousands of messages per day, and he thinks he’ll read them, someday, when he feels ready to. 

They had programmed a little service for them. They’re not officially dead, so it’s not a funeral, but they want to pray for their souls. Of course, they have invited Tony, and Peter. They wanted them to be there, wanted to show their respects. 

Tony had to go, and he had to go as the representative of the Avengers, and as the hurting husband of Steve, of the lost hero., which: fair It’s just… he doesn’t know if he’s that strong.

Rhodey tells him he can go, if Tony doesn’t feel like it, but the engineer actually _wants_ to. He wants to thank every person that is supporting them, that is sending love, and prayers, and good energy and positive thoughts to them. He wants to, so he says yes to the invitation. 

Surprisingly enough -at the moment, when he thinks about it he sees it’s logical-, they’re having two separate ceremonies. One he goes and sits discreetly. It’s a quiet one, public, but silent. They’re praying for the Avengers, for their souls. Tony is not a believer, but he just tells them in his head how much he loves and misses them, over and over again.

Then, there is one only dedicated to his husband. It’s, of course, the Government’s idea. Steve Rogers is an icon, he’s a living legend. So, they want him to have one, just him. Tony thinks about protesting about it, wants to tell them the rest of the Avengers are - _were_ , _they were_ \- just as important as Steve, but he doesn’t have the strength. For that one, Peter begs to go; he wants to be there, wants to be there for his Papa.

So Tony dresses him in a suit, matching his, and they go. Peter has this solemn look on his young face, and he has planned to go through the entire thing without crying, but he just can’t do it. Tony picks him up the moment they step out of the car, and the kid just holds onto him, like a koala. He starts crying quietly about five minutes in, when seeing pictures of his Papa right in front of him it’s too much for the little kid. He hides his face in Tony’s shoulder and starts gradually crying more and more, until he’s sobbing; Tony caresses his back, but he’s also crying. He kisses his head and hides his own behind his son’s curls. Rhodey is there for them, stroking Peter’s back, brushing his fingers over Tony’s hand and Pepper and Happy are at his other side, a silent company that makes Tony feel better. It’s truly a heartbreaking scene to look at. 

He knows people are taking pictures, he knows the picture of him and his son crying, broken by their loss, is going to be in some history books, someday. He knows it’s going to be in every newspaper the next day, and he knows it’ll be circulating throughout the internet from now on. He knows it’s a good picture, because it’s powerful, because it holds an important meaning. 

The messages he receives after that just grow. They receive letters, gifts, everything. The street around the Tower is full of flowers, and stuffed animals, and candles, and messages. Tony is grateful for that, and he makes sure he tells the people, releasing an emotional message through twitter, Instagram, Facebook: everywhere he can think of. 

It, of course, doesn’t mean things are easier. The moment they come from the ceremony they get into bed. Peter still hates Steve, even more so since the ceremony, but Tony had been told it’s okay. Peter didn’t hate his Father, he just didn’t understand what was going on. In shock, they told him. In denial. 

Then, one day, his baby boy gets sick. It’s nothing too severe, just a bad cold, but it’s the first one since Steve’s… since he went away. It’s a month after the ceremony, and Peter still has to go back to class. He does some work to not be too left behind -Phil makes him do it, and Tony just observes them-, and Tony hasn’t worked at that time, either. 

However, when Peter gets sick, something changes within him. Peter being sick reminds him the world keeps moving on. It reminds him of what Steve would do, how he would cuddle their kid, how he’d be the perfect nurse. He tells himself he can’t keep the way things are. It’s not fair for them, it’s not fair for Steve. He has to change, and he knows it. It’s hard, but he has to. 

So they start to go back to their lives. It’s hard, of course it is. Steve and he had developed a nice routine going on, just the three of them, and now Tony is thrown off balance. But he makes it work.

Peter goes back to class one month and a half after his Papa’s passing. He hates the first day, because not one kid leaves him alone, all of them asking about his Papa. The kid hates it, yeah, but Tony hates it more. 

Tony goes back to work two months after, and he cries while he works, sometimes, but that’s something no one needs to know. 

And they decide to live. 

Peter is nine when he tells Tony he hates being Steve Stark-Rogers’ son. 

They’re in the kitchen: Tony is cooking some dinner, and Peter is doing his homework, quiet. It’s special homework, the one his Dad makes up for him. He’s starting to get really bored in class, so Tony is teaching him at home after school. His teachers have asked his Dad to skip him some grades, but his Dad had refused. Unbeknownst to Peter it is because of Steve. Tony and he had talked about the possibility of Peter skipping grades, and neither of them liked the idea. Tony especially knows it sucks. 

Tony is caught off-guard when his son tells him about his new feelings. Peter had gone through a phase of hating Steve already, yes, and it had lasted a whole six months, until his Papa’s birthday had come up. Since then, he had never said he hated Steve, and Tony thought he was over it. 

It’s been two years and a half since his husband’s -and the rest of the team’s passing-

_You know, they’re not saying killed in action. They think there’s still a chance he’s alive._ He’s just missing, he’s… missing, missing, missing-

-.It has been a tough time, but Tony is better, and Peter and he are starting to be truly okay, again. People are still sending love. Tony had even received a letter from a guy who was in a coma for a few years, who had just found out about the news. He was devastated. Tony and Peter went to visit him a few days after, and they cried together. It felt good.

Peter and he had developed a new life, a new routine. They had become more close in themselves, having, now, a much smaller family. Sure, Happy was always around -complaining about Peter but adoring him either way-, and Rhodey, Pepper, Fury, Hill, and Coulson were around, too, although not that much. But none of them lived at the Tower, so: only Peter and him. And they were okay.

That’s why it surprises him when Peter says that. He leaves the knife on the counter and goes to his son, who is doing his homework while pouting. 

Peter has turned into a beautiful kid. He has grown a lot, and every time Tony looks at him he just knows Steve would feel so, so proud. Not only him: the rest of their family, too. 

“Bambi, why are you saying that?”

“Because I hate being his son, Dad” he simply says. Tony takes the homework away then, and he cradles Peter’s chin, making him look into his eyes. 

“Why?” He asks firmly “I want the truth, Peter. Now”

Peter sighs, but he still answers, hands fidgeting in a way Tony knows was his own, a nervous tic he’d develop when he’d been younger than his son. It makes the engineer smile softly and tenderly, which, luckily, encourages Peter to talk.

“Because it sucks, Dad. Because he’s not here anymore, hasn’t been in more than two years, but every day in school I get comments about him”

“Oh, honey…”

“People are always talking about him” his son keeps going, cheeks flushed a pale red and eyes shining. Tony hates to see him like that, so he cradles his head and kisses his curls, softly humming in the way he knew calmed the youngster down- something Steve had discovered, actually- “. They ask me if I’m not sad, they tell me I should be. And I am, you know? ‘Cause I miss him, every single day of my life. But they don’t know me, so they don’t know”

“Of course, baby boy, I get it”

“And they just… they compare me to him. They want me to _be_ him. I hate it, Dad. Everyone is expecting me to be Papa, and I don’t want to. I love him, but I want to be… Peter”

“And that’s why you hate being his son?” Tony asks, still trying to be gentle. He’s lost, he knows it, he’s been trying to drive in the dark for two years now, ever since his husband had walked through the door and never came back (not by choice, but still). Being a father is something funny; familiar, yet uncharted, something he supposes he has to have down after all that time, but something that keeps changing every day alongside Peter, something that requires new things and stops requiring old and familiar ones. Sometimes Tony briefly wonders if Steve would know what to do if he walked through the door, if he would know what to do with a nine-year-old. Peter shrugs then, making Tony’s fingers leave his unruly curls. The engineer wants his son to be as honest as possible though, even when he _knows_ it’s embedded in the kid’s soul and personality, after all those years with Steve, so he grabs his chin and forces Peter to look into his eyes, trying to silently encourage him. His son’s eyes are shining more than before, but he still answers.

“I think I’d be a normal kid, if he wasn’t my Father” he whispers, barely loud enough for Tony to hear him, and breaking his heart in the process. He knows, he _knows_ Peter’s life would be much easier if neither of them were his Dads, had often wondered how his life would have been had he not had Peter, but- it’s impossible. It just can’t be.

“Do you want to not be his son?” He asks after a minute, trying to sound as neutral as possible. Peter bits his lip, thinking about it for a while. Finally, to Tony’s relief, he shakes his head, as his bottom lip trembles slightly. 

“I am Papa’s son. I want to be, but I hate that the people just focus on that”

Tony sighs then, relief and pain mixing uncomfortably in his low stomach, and kisses his son’s forehead. Then, he makes him stand up, going into their living room. Peter sits on the couch, eyes big and wary as ever, and Tony hands one picture of Steve they have always there, just as if he blond is looking over them. He puts it in front of his son and sits next to him, hugging the small kid to his body.

“People compare you to your Father because they loved him” he explains, fingers tracing nonsense on his son’s arm, another small gesture that always seems to be doing wonders for Peter. The kid slowly relaxes against him, half hugging the picture to him, and still observing his father’s face”. They do that because they admire him, because they want him to not be forgotten. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah” Peter nods, and sounds a bit surer than five minutes prior. Tony smiles and briefly presses his lips against his kid’s temple, resting his cheek on Peter’s head after, smiling at the way the curls tickle his nose.

“Papa was an incredible human being, Peter” he whispers after a while. He can hear dinner still being cooked, but he trusts JARVIS will alert him if it starts burning”. He was loyal, brave, generous… he was the best man I’ve ever met”

“I know, you’ve told me,” Peter says, a bit louder than before. _I wish I could know myself_ goes unsaid, but still breaks Tony a tad bit more.

“I know. And, Peter, you’re his son. Of course people are going to see if you’re as good as your Papa”

“But I am not” the kid immediately protests, and Tony wants to hunt down all the jerks that have made his son feel that way, even when he knows Peter has had it coming, with all the self-doubt his husband and he had been criminals offenders. 

“Oh, you are, Peter” he still whispers, trying to sound as genuine as he can, because there’s nothing he’s surer of. Peter is better than him, better than Steve, better than they could ever dream. He is”. You are better than him, and than me”

“That’s a lie”

“It’s not” Tony insists, hugging Peter a bit tighter”. Papa and I were so proud of you, and still are. We always said you were going to be so, so much better than us, someday”

“But… I… I don’t know how to do that, how to be that” Peter says, finally voicing his fears, and Tony can’t help but think it’s _so_ unfair his kid has to be thinking about that. He’s too little, too innocent, too pure. It’s not _fair_.

“And you don’t have to, not know, okay? You’re only nine, Peter. But, hear me out: you don’t have to hate being Steve’s son. You have to be proud of it”

“Okay…”

“Peter, I’m serious,” he says, his voice a bit firmer than before. Peter nods against his arm, sniffing. 

“I know, Dad, and I am proud!” He exclaims, in a way that reminds Tony of his husband, which still hurts”. But it’s… it’s too much pressure, sometimes”

Tony sighs, knowing his son was right. It was too much pressure, especially for a nine-year-old kid. A genius, yes, but a _kid_. People are asking for things Peter can’t give, not _yet_ , and most of them don’t even understand when Peter is overwhelmed with it all. 

“Kiddo, you don’t have to be a national hero” he whispers after only a few seconds, trying to get through Peter’s thick skull, which he knows it’s hard”. Not now, not ever, understood? If you want to be like Papa when you’re old, though, if you want to carry his legacy, the only thing you need to do is be as noble as he was. You have to be honest, and you have to defend the truth, and what’s right. There are so many ways you can help people, Peter. So many ways you can be a hero, if you want to be. But, not now. You’re nine, now. This is something you have to worry about when you’re much older, okay?”

Peter nodded, smiling a little bit, and scoots closer to him. Tony feels happier than he should feel without his husband there, and a pang of guiltiness crosses his chest. It should be Steve there, cuddling Peter, marveling at how amazing the kid truly is. And yet, he knows. And yet, Tony is, being Peter’s rock. He feels the luckiest guy in the world, and the biggest asshole.

“Okay, Dad. Do you think I’ll make Papa proud?”

“Of course, baby” Tony said, smiling and kissing his son’s crown “. You already are doing it”

Peter is fifteen when they declare them Killed in Action.

It is something they should’ve seen coming. It has been, what, eight years? There were people searching for them _everywhere_. The Governments of countless countries, organizations, even random people. They had all tried it. 

They never succeeded.

So, it shouldn’t be surprising that they decide to declare them dead, on the anniversary of their “death”. It’s even poetic, or at least it feels like it is, in a really fucked up way.

Tony and Peter receive the news first, which is not a surprise either. The President himself calls one Sunday afternoon and he tells Tony what’s going to happen; he tells him they’re going to declare them K.I.A in a few days, he tells Tony he wants to have a proper ceremony for them, he wants them to be buried and celebrated as American Heroes. Tony is numb. Tony doesn’t know how to breathe. So he agrees. And then he hangs up. And then he collapses and scares Peter shitless.

When he wakes up, both Peter and he cry for Steve for the first time in a while. It feels good, as much as he wishes they could stop crying about him, because Steve hated sadness. But it feels good, to hold Peter and clean his tears with his thumbs, something he’s been doing less, ever since his son had crossed the umbral of adolescence, even when Peter was a whole lot closer to his parent than a normal teenager would be. And now Peter is holding him back, cleaning his father’s tears with a maturity that was not usually seen in a kid who could not even drive. Again, Tony is reminded of just how unfair the whole situation is and, once again, he knows he can’t do a thing, just be grateful Peter turned out to be the most amazing kid he had ever met, that he’s not spiraling down, as Tony had been with his age. 

The messages are equally overwhelming as they were eight years before. Peter has to stay at home for a few days, because people in his high-school were going crazy; he doesn’t want to say it at first, doesn’t want his Dad to worry about another thing, but Tony presses on enough for Peter to spell anything. He tells Tony it’s stupid and that he can take it (a goddamn martyr complex that kid has- Tony knows exactly where he got it from), and it’s just kids talking more than usual, but Tony is not having that. The genius asks for privacy and respect, and, surprisingly, it’s given. People still respects Steve enough they want to respect his family, too, and the people who stubbornly don’t listen are quickly shut up by much more respectful individuals. Peter can go back to school, eyes a bit less clouded and a more genuine smile on his face, even if it is not completely there yet, and his Dad and he start planning the funerals. They decide they want one for all of their family, not two, like when they had first disappeared. Partly because it feels wrong to say Steve was, is, whatever, more important than them, partly because they don’t think they’re strong enough to get through two funerals.

It’s as hard as the first time, if not more. Probably more, actually, because now they know for sure they’re not coming back. It’s been eight years, and they’ve had no news of them, not a clue: anything. The endless hope has finally been cut, the longing looks at the elevator doors, at the sky, at every corner while they walk lessen, and acceptance settles on their minds and hearts. It hurts, but it’s dull now. It’s a bit more bearable. 

They’re not coming home, and it’s now that it really sinks in. Hurts. But it does sink in. 

Tony wants to do the funerals because he wants to pay a respect to his husband and family, but he hates it. In all the time Steve has spent away from his home, Tony had started to look less and less at his pictures, his heart bleeding every time he even dared to look to the direction the pictures were. If he does look at them it is out of pure nostalgia, alone in his room and crying quietly, praying to someone he doesn’t believe that he does not choke, because Peter has a creakingly good ear, and it’s almost embarrassing he’s crying this hard about it eight years after… well, after it happened. Peter and he also look at pictures of the whole family with Steve in important days, faint smiles, that taste like hurt and love. They remember them on their birthdays, and they honor them as best as they know and can.

Tony is so incredibly proud of his son. Peter had grown up to be a noble and generous young man. He is incredibly nice to others, only wanting to do good, to make the world a better place. He has the gentle, good and pure soul of his Papa.

And he had taken his words, when he was a nine-year-old kid, to heart. Peter is still young (too young, in Tony’s opinion), but he has started -at twelve years old, when Tony had allowed him- to go with his Dad to some charity trips. They go to soup kitchens together, they go to hospitals to visit the sick children, and to every fundraiser that can fit their schedules, sometimes creating free evenings out of thin air. Peter had given him the idea of different scholarships right after turning thirteen, and since then they had created a lot of foundations that went from psychological help after a tragic loss to support art projects. Peter was always thinking about others, and he’s combining way too many things, Tony knows, slowly but surely following the unhealthy habits of his father, which makes Tony worry and lose a bit of sleep every once in a while.

He has his high school with the Debate Team (and before he had had band and robotics, until it had become too much), and he also has the charity work _and_ he helps Tony with some stuff already. The engineer loves to work with his son, so he doesn’t really complain, but he wants his kid to relax every once in a while, knows Peter cannot be like _him_ , not if he wants him to be okay. However, Peter seemed really adamant about doing what he wanted to do when he wanted to. Too much like his Papa, damn it… and him, if he had to admit. Truly, the kid was condemned to stubbornness since his first cries had been heard in that August morning- best one of Tony’s life, that’s for damn sure.

Peter is like him, too, which sometimes drives him up the wall. He is a genius -obviously-, he is sassy, and stubborn ( _God_ , is he stubborn), and such a little shit sometimes (he _adores_ his son, seriously). Rhodey takes, from the moment Peter turns ten, to tell him Peter is a carbon copy of him, and he says he has a lot of Tony’s gestures and expressions (something Tony had already noticed by then, sometimes feeling like he’s looking at a mirror when he speaks to the kid). Peter is Tony’s proudest and best creation. He truly, truly, doesn’t know how he has managed to have a son that exceptional. Steve’s genes, he guesses every time he as much as dares to ask himself that question. 

The rest of the world adores Peter, too. He is the face of a new generation, one that is much more open-minded, one that is going to change the world in ways Tony knows have not been seen before.

The teenager is also really… woke, he calls it (see, Tony is still trying to learn his language). Peter had made himself social media under the supervision of Tony when he had turned thirteen, and since the first moment he had used it to raise awareness and talk about quite the controversial topics. He used his pictures to educate his followers, and a lot of Tony’s acquittances were impressed by him. He was apprehensive at posting pictures of Steve at first, too, but when he had heard someone talking shit about his Papa, he posted the first one, that picture Tony had taken of both moments before Steve had left. Since then, he used to post little messages for him, showing it was okay to miss someone this much, showing his grief and making it seem normal. Gosh, Tony would’ve given his life up for Steve to take it, for him to see their son so grown up. Peter’s fifteen, but he’s changing the world already. 

They make a beautiful ceremony for their family. This time it is outside, in Central Park. They tell people they can all go, titles and social ranking be damned (why does it have to exist for a funeral, anyway?). There aren’t official guests, per se, none other than Peter and Tony himself and the people love that, feeling included for the first time in a while.

Everyone dresses nicely that day, stores quickly having to ask for nicer clothes, a lot of them black to the distributors for all those who want to look better than ever for the funeral. Tony and Peter put on matching black suits, and Tony lets Peter put on his Papa’s watch, which the teenager can feel sitting heavy in his wrist, almost brushing against two tiny marks that are there in an invisible way, only visible for Peter, a silent reminder he has to talk with his Dads- as soon as the funerals pass, he promises himself. 

They have kind of a circle in the heart of the park with pictures of the lost Avengers all around, and other stuff they could think of, like Bruce’s favorite book, Sam’s glove, Bucky’s notebooks. Peter and he are first row, standing with one arm around the other in a desperate way to keep each other up, to not let the other fall to the ground when the pain in their chests sits too heavy for them to handle. Tony has his arm resting on his son’s shoulder, and he also rests his head on Peter’s hair, when it is too hard for him to pretend he is fine. 

Peter stands there, proud to be who he is, to have the parents he has, something Tony can’t help but feel proud of, especially when he knows just how hard it’d been for Peter. He cries with his Dad, gripping the older man’s jacket with moderate force, yet still using Tony as his anchor. He’s not scared to show his tears, not at all, but he needs that strong presence that keeps reminding him he’s still there. When everything starts to overwhelm him, he concentrates enough to hear his Dad’s heartbeat, and that is what keeps him going. Just like eight years ago, Tony and Peter form an equally heartbreaking and powerful scene. People take pictures of that, too, of their embrace that screams of loss and loss, of weakness and strength, of loss and not quite a complete family, of something else that no one can really depict,and both of them use _the_ pic on their social media. Power move, someone calls it, when the picture becomes the most liked picture in Tony’s Instagram (third with Peter’s).

The park is packed. Everyone, there is supporting the ceremony, which turns into something truly no one had ever seen, and it is devastatingly beautiful, to see them all there, to connect in a way Tony had never thought was even possible.

When they arrive home, though, eyes puffy and spirits tired, they both do what they rarely do anymore: they get under the covers in Tony’s bed, and slept soundly for more than twelve hours. They talk before, of course, which was something they had not done when Steve had first disappeared. Tony hugs his son close to his body, lets Peter rest his head on his chest so the kid can hear his heartbeat, and they talk for hours, until their tongues feel heavy and their eyelids refuse to open (and still talking in the dark for a few minutes). Tony lets himself get lost in his husband and his’ love story, telling Peter everything all over again; he lets his son speak about nonsense, talks nonsense back, and hears Peter’s never-ending theories about the newest series he’s been obsessed with. They spend the rest of their weekend, a lazy Sunday that feels like a gift, tinkering in the workshop, trying new recipes, watching Star Wars and, in Peter’s case, drawing his Dad’s face, who finally looks in peace, soft smile while one of the finals scene of the first movie they had put on played on the background. 

As surreal as it is, they have lived through Steve’s -and the other’s- funerals, and they have just kept living their lives, like nothing has changed. And, truly, nothing has: they have just made official what they had previously known: their family was not coming home.

So, their normal lives continue. Peter goes back to Midtown on Monday and Tony takes a quick trip to San Francisco, leaving his son with Rhodey for a few days -which is, honestly, quite usual, so much so Peter has claimed a room at his Godfather’s, and has clothes permanently living there-. Eight years after the whole incident, they are kind of fine (better than Tony had ever expected, or dreamed, really).

Until Tony discovers his son is Spider-Man, of course.

Then he fucking loses it. 

Peter is already in college when he discovers his Dad sometimes talks to his dead Father. Of course, he thinks that is not okay.

“Dad, hear me out here” he uselessly begs, standing across Tony in the kitchen aisle, arms resting on either side of his hips, and the engineer seriously wants to _laugh_ , because seriously: how can Peter talk to him about his father while looking exactly like Steve when he was exasperated with Tony? Either way, not even that (nor his son’s still puppy-dog eyes) are going to convince him what he is doing is in any way wrong.

“Peter, why won’t you leave it be?” Tony asks, exasperated himself, and trying to go back to the peaceful topic they had been talking about, until Peter had decided he wanted to talk about something he’d discovered (he was going to _kill_ Rhodey).Peter rolls his eyes -of course, something he had inherited from him, that little shit-, and throws his hands in the air, and now Tony sees himself. God, he wants to laugh more now- how can Peter be this perfect mix of his husband and he when he hasn’t been with his Papa in ages?

“Because I can’t! Dad, Pops died, what? Eleven years ago?” He exclaims, crossing his arm across his chest to try to hide how hurt he is by saying those words. Tony raises an eyebrow at him, silently asking him if he really thinks he buys he’s not bothered, and Peter nearly glares at him, huffing towards the ceiling for a brief moment before scolding his expression down and looking at Tony again. _Please, stop looking like your Papa_ , Tony wants to shout, _Please never stop doing it_.

“Peter…” he tries to say, searching for words he knows won’t come. What is he supposed to say, anyway? What is Peter expecting him to say? That he regrets it? That he won’t talk to Steve again? Because there is not a chance in hell he’s doing that. What if he takes to talk to the blond every once in a while (every week- every day if the week’s being especially bad). Peter can’t understand that. He doesn’t know how it feels to be raising a kid all alone, yet feel like your partner is always _there_ , just not doing anything, not being able to help Tony every time Peter gives him some sort of problem, or headache (and he loves his son, adores him with every molecule of his being, but _God_ , sometimes it seems Peter goes looking for problems every time he’s fucking bored), every time he’s had to talk Peter out of an anxiety attack, or a heartbreak, every time he’s taken care of him when he was sick, every time he’s helped the kid study for his exams and patiently wait for college decisions. It overwhelms him more often than not, makes him feel like the worst Dad in the world. What if he wants to talk to Steve about it? What if he just wants to tell him how his day has gone? Peter sees the heartbreak in his eyes and his posture crumbles a bit. He goes around the aisle and hugs Tony, resting his head on the crook of his neck, where Tony knows the young vigilante can hear his heartbeat best. Blaming on inertia, muscles have grown accustomed to the action after so many years, Tony starts to rock them, gently. When Peter speaks again, the oldest of the two has to use his Dad-superhearing-abilities (or Peter-language) to understand Peter’s worlds, muffled by the neck of his sweatshirt.

“Look, I know… I know it was hard, at the beginning” he says, voice a bit softer than before. Tony hugs his son tighter”. And I know you miss him. I miss him, too, Dad, every single day of my life. I miss Papa, but I know he’s not coming back, alright? No one is coming back: not even Thor. If we haven’t heard of a God, then… Dad, there was a funeral. A _funeral_ ”

Tony sighs, knows his son is right, hates it all the same. He knows Steve is not coming back, _knows_ Peter just wants to help by reminding him of that little fact, but in reality, it doesn’t change a thing. He still misses Steve. He’s always gonna do it.

“He’s still my husband, Peter,” he says, and kisses his son’s head and breaking the hug and putting his hands on Peter’s shoulders so he can look into his eyes “. I miss him, and talking to him helps me to cope with everything”

“Still, Dad” Peter insists. He can understand his Dad, because he also thinks about his Papa daily, but still: he wants his Dad to move on. He wants Tony to be happy, to enjoy life, to not live in the past. So he suggests something else, even if he knows Tony is going to refuse” Maybe it is time you… I don’t know, try to find someone to live your life with”

“I’m sorry, what?” Tony immediately asks, face showing the shock Peter had been expecting. He knows it’s a long shot, but he also knows his Dad has to move on. It’s been too long, he has to.

“Listen, Dad, I don’t want you to forget Papa, either, but he’s gone,” he says, maybe as a last and desperate try to get his Dad to understand”. And I’m in college; I’m growing up. Sure, I’ll keep living in New York, probably in the Tower, but I’m growing up. I get you focused on raising me at first. And I’m grateful. Truly, I am, I couldn’t have asked for a better Dad, ever. But, Dad, I don’t need you to raise me anymore, you get that, right? And so… I want you to be happy”

“I am happy,” Tony says, almost too fast. But truly, he is. Maybe not as happy as he could be, but he _is_ happy. He is happy when he sees his kid thrive, and grow, and turn into the amazing man he has in front of him. He does not need someone else in his life, does not see himself capable of loving someone else, even when he knows, deep down he does, Steve would have wished for him to find someone to be his partner, to support him and have his back. But he has Peter, and that is everything he needs. He gets why his son is suggesting so, but truly: there is no reason to.

“I know, but… I don’t know, maybe someone could make you even happier? I don’t know” Peter says, already knowing he’s failing, that his Dad is not going to say yes. But he really wants Tony to find love again, to smile, to have _that_ spark in his eyes he’s only seen in pictures that date prior to his Papa’s passing. Tony’s eyes still spark from time to time, especially if Peter is involved, but the young genius knows is not the same. And he wants his Dad to be happy, especially after everything he’d done for him all of his life. Frankly, Peter is scared of growing up and not be as much in his Father’s life. He never wants to leave Tony alone, not after everything they have gone through, all the adventures they have lived, together. He _needs_ Tony to be okay, even if that means the engineer introduces a new person into his life, even if that means truly saying goodbye to Steve, in a way.

“Peter, listen, I appreciate you wanting me to be happy. Truly, honey, I do. But… honestly, I’m not ready. I loved your Father more than anything. And I just… I can’t, okay? I can’t, Bambi” Tony says then, almost begging Peter to drop the subject.

“But…” Peter tries, one last time, but his Dad’s eyes stop him from doing so. Tony looks on the verge of a mental breakdown, of breaking down, and the last thing Peter wants is to hurt his Dad.

“Maybe someday. But not now” Tony insists, and Peter can’t help but sigh, nodding.

“Okay, maybe someday…” he murmurs, hugging his Dad again. He knows he is not winning that battle anytime soon, but one can only hope. Tony smiles at that, knowing his son would be too kind to insist if he saw his Dad was too uncomfortable, and kisses his baby’s forehead. He knows Peter means well, and he is grateful for having such a good kid, but… he is fine. He truly is… as long as he has Peter by his side… he doesn’t need anything else.

Life went on. It went on in the States, and it went on in an unknown island in the middle of the pacific. 

Sometime after Peter’s talk with Tony, however, something changed.

Steve Stark-Rogers woke up.

And so did the rest of the team. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Steve is apparently not dead.
> 
> Now the question is: what the hell happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry it took me a while to upload the second chapter, Uni keeps me busy. But now that we're all confined to our homes to keep CoronaVirus from spreading I'll definitely have more time. 
> 
> Also, fun fact: this story was going to be around 3-4 chapters. Now I think it's gonna be 5, especially because I had to cut this chapter in two- it was way too long otherwise. Anyway, enjoy it!

“Cap, we were waiting for you,” Clint said, closing the ramp after the super-soldier. Steve smiled at his teammates, and sat next to Sam in the front of the Quinjet, quickly putting the seatbelt on and trying to push the thought of how he knew Peter was crying in Tony’s arms right at that moment. It was going to be fine, he was going to see his family in no time, and he could see his son’s beautiful smile before he knew. 

“Sorry, got caught up with Tony and Peter,” he said, even when everyone knew he was completely lying- not like anyone cared, really. Natasha smiled at him, putting the seatbelt on herself.

“Are they okay?” She asked, feeling a bit bad about not having gone to say goodbye herself. She had said it the day before, right after dinner, but now she wished for one more hug from her favorite nephew.

“Yeah, I think so. Peter is probably crying now, though. He always does it once we leave… I hate it” Steve murmured, and blatantly ignored his teammates' faces of pity. They all knew the situation was hard, but alas: it was their lives. Imperfectly perfect.

“Little punk will be alright, Steve, don’t worry,” Bucky told him with a soft smile “. He has Tony to help him”

“Yeah. I’m so lucky to have him as the other parent of my child, you know? He’s the best Dad I could’ve asked for Peter” Steve breathed, feeling a bit better about the whole thing. His boys were going to be okay, especially when Tony was there to protect Peter, no matter the circumstance.

“He really is an amazing Dad, “ Natasha said, letting Sam take off before adding “, but, so are you. Peter is going to be such an amazing kid when he grows up”

“He already is” Thor intervened from the back of the Quinjet “. Our nephew is a young noble Midgardian”

“Gosh, I never thought I’d say it, but I’ll miss the little devil” Sam sighed, not taking his eyes off the sky. Steve rolled his eyes at him; the Falcon could say whatever he wanted, but he adored Peter. He just liked to pretend he didn’t… _that_ much. 

“We’ll come home soon, we’ll see Peter and Tony soon enough “Bruce reminded them, being (as always) the wiser of them all, and making himself more comfortable to take a nap. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Steve said, smiling back and finishing the conversation. Soon after, the members of the team were either sleeping for a bit, to be at the top of their game for the battle later on, or talking about the mission.

They didn’t have that much information, only that a dude had gone cray-cray and they needed to stop him. Steve wanted to yell it wasn’t necessary for -almost- all of them to go, but if Fury had thought it was, maybe he was right. Maybe. Still, he was going to miss his husband and son and their little home. He’d never thought, not in a million of years, that he would be this happy in the new century. And, back when he was a little punk in Brooklyn he had never thought he’d be able to love whoever he wanted, much less have a wonderful kid with him. 

But Tony… oh God, he was everything Steve could’ve dreamed of. Of course, when they had met each other they had had kind of a rough start, but Steve thought it was normal, especially when one considered both of their personalities. Both of them had strong personalities, and they were both really, really stubborn. But, not long after the battle of New York, they started mending their differences. They got to know each other for who they truly were, and quickly fell in love. After that, it had all happened really fast…

And there they were, happily married and with a happy kid to love and raise together. And Peter was the best kid ever. He was good, and pure, and just the light in Steve’s (and Tony’s) life. It also helped that the little one had inherited Tony’s eyes and smile. 

They were Steve’s everything, and he was going to miss them so terribly much those two weeks.

They had landed on one island, in the pacific. Mission was going smoothly, and Steve thought they could get home even sooner than they had originally thought. However… things started to go wrong on their fifth day, when the blond truly felt they were close to a resolution. 

They had found the guy and he was powerful but, with the Avengers fighting to stop him he never truly had a chance of actually beating them. He was smart and clever: but he was fighting against the best heroes in the entire Earth.

However, him being less powerful than them didn’t mean he hadn’t built quite the indestructible bunker. Not only that, but the dude had also built countless traps, and he had gotten to Clint already. It wasn’t severe, but the archer had a cut on his forehead that was still dripping some blood. Steve knew he was going to be okay, but he still worried, despite the shorter’s man wink and promise he felt okay.

The rest of his teammates were holding pretty good, even Hulk. Steve would’ve wished for Banner to be there instead of Hulk, because, as much as the Green Guy was a big help they could’ve used Banner’s intellect in those moments. But Steve knew that was not going to happen, especially with that place being a huge trap. Too stressful for Bruce, sadly, too triggering. 

They were almost out, though. Steve could see the light coming from the end of one of the corridors, and he almost smelled the exotic air of the outside. He thought briefly about his son and husband, and how he was going to see them pretty soon, because the second he was out he was going to find the leader of this and kick his ass. He was going to be home even before then he had planned, so the Captain thought he could surprise them. Maybe they’d take Peter to the zoo; the little one had been asking to go for… _weeks_ , and Steve thought it was a great family plan. Who knows, maybe Bucky or the others would want to come with them, too. It’d be a pretty good day, all in all, he could envision his son’s happy face already, eyes shinning and dimples on his cheeks.

Yeah, the Captain couldn’t wait to be home with his boys. And, maybe because he was distracted with those thoughts, he didn’t realize the next trap. To be fair, none of his team saw it, as it was pretty much impossible to do so. Even Bucky or Natasha didn’t do it, and that’s why Steve’s world went suddenly black.

The last thing he remembered was seeing the light at the end of the corridor.

When Steve regained consciousness, his head was pounding, and he felt sore all over his body. His throat felt dry, and he felt itchy all over. He wanted to go back to sleep so, so badly, but at the same time: he knew he couldn’t, his survivor instinct screaming at him desperately to get him to wake up, to move, to get out of there. With effort, he opened his eyes as slow as he could and blinked in the absolute darkness he was in, trying to see something and maybe get rid of the headache he already had. He sat up, again with some effort (his muscles were _screaming_ \- _what had happened?_ ) and he looked around, opening his mouth in shock when he saw the rest of his teammates laying down in mattress, just like he was, in what resembled (in sort of a creepy way) an abandoned hospital, or at least the room of one. His teammates were asleep and looked in good state, but... they looked older, that much he could tell, even from a distance. Clint, the closest to him, no longer had the cut on his forehead, and he had some light beard on his face. Natasha, who was at his other side, had longer hair than Steve remembered. The Captain brought his hand to his face: he also had a beard, and, when he touched it, he realized his hair was longer, too. 

_Fuck, what had happened to them?_

He heard a groan then and tried not to jump in fear before he realized that sound was familiar. Sitting more up than before in his bed, he turned his head to see Bucky also sitting up, rubbing his flesh hand against his eyes while looking utterly confused, and disoriented. 

“Punk?” He asked, blinking to get some darkness out, too. Steve sighed, raising his hand (again, he was sore. How? Why? Sure, he’d been asleep for some time, that much he knew, but he didn’t get sore easily, so for how long had he been out, exactly?).

“I’m here, Jerk” he answered, surprised by how unfamiliar his voice sounded, just as if he had not used it in forever. He coughed, feeling how dry it was.

“What happened?” Bucky asked, trying to understand where they were and failing miserably. Steve knew that was something triggering for him, so he seriously hoped they would not have a case of Winter-Soldier in there.

“I... I don’t know. I just woke up” he explained “. But we’re okay, Buck, we’re okay, alright? Breathe”

“What are we doing here?” Bucky said, ignoring him altogether.He was desperately trying to keep his cool, even when he knew they were more or less okay, and even when he knew Steve would do everything in his power to protect him. But still: they had been knocked down, and now his body felt weird, like it’d been sleeping for too long, like it was… older, somehow. Much older.

“I don’t…” Steve murmured, and then had an epiphany “. oh. Buck, the mission. We were on a mission”

“Oh God, that’s right. We were trying to stop that dude...” 

“And we made it, but in our way back his place started becoming this maze, full of traps...”

“Yeah”

“Something must’ve gotten to us, Bucky” Steve concluded for the both of them, also trying to not fall into panic. If anything, he had to be the leader more than he’d ever been in his life. 

“Gosh, it seems like it. The others...?”

Steve took his silence as a clear way of asking him if the others were dead, or alive, and he realized, with guilt quickly growing in his heart, he had not thought about that possibility, even. He sighed, also pushing the guilt away alongside the fear, and focused. His head still hurt like crazy, and his mind was still kind of foggy, too, but he focused on his super hearing. And... there. Thank everything. 

“I think I still hear their heartbeats,” he said, feeling more relief than he cared to analyze. He tried to get up, although his legs screamed in response. Still, he could not stay in that bed; they had to keep moving, and move fast“. Buck, we gotta help them. We don’t know when that guy’s coming back”

“Yeah, let’s get on it” his best friend said, also getting up. Their movements were slow, like it hurt them, and Steve knew that was the case. What in hell had happened, exactly? He remembered running towards the exit, he remembered thinking about his husband and son and then... nothing. _God_ , Tony and Peter. How were they? They had to be okay, right? They had to be. Horrible ideas crossed Steve’s mind: he imagined that guy going after his boys; he imagined Tony being taken by surprise, he imagined him hurting his precious Peter and his little face struck by pain or fear or both combined or… no. He could not, ever, let that happen. He’d gladly give his life over and over to keep that from happening. So, with even more resolution than before, the Captain walked over his partner in crime’s bed.

When he got to Bucky, however, his best friend looked at him like he was a ghost. For a terrifying and freezing second, Steve thought Bucky had become the Winter Soldier once again, but he knew it wasn’t possible. They had gotten rid of him years ago, right? And sure, Bucky could be scared, but he was stronger than that. Selfishly, Steve thought they didn’t have the time for Bucky to go back into that; they needed to wake everyone else up and get the hell out of there. 

“Buck?” He asked, worry setting deep in his bones. He knew not to push it away, knew it’d be useless. With everything that was happening, worry could, maybe, be the one thing that helped him “. Is everything okay?”

“Stevie, your... your face” he murmured, pointing at it with a shaky hand. Steve frowned and brought a hand to his face, where he felt the beard he had felt, minutes before (even when it felt like a lifetime). He didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, aside from that beard, so…

“What is it?”

“You look... older” Bucky simply said, apparently not being able to take his eyes off of him. The other super soldier sighed, nodding. Bucky looked older, too, but Steve couldn’t precisely what had exactly changed: it was too dark to do so. He could point out some wrinkles around Buck’s eyes, maybe his mouth too, but he needed more light to decide on it. Still, he knew, deep down, that something truly horrible had happened to them, to the whole team.

“You do too, Buck,” he said, seeing through the dim light how the sergeant touched his own face, frowning. Then, after only a minute, he looked back at Steve, hand back on his side.

“Steve, what has happened to us?” He whispered, almost too scared to do so. Both men were thinking the same thing, and they knew it: had they lost time again? Both were sadly used to not be able to control it, to have it taken from them as if it was a toy, not being taken care or, or being played with. Time for them was something they were aware of, but that it played with them in the cruelest of ways.

“I don’t know, Bucky. I have no idea” he said, trying to be as honest as possible… and trying to be in denial for as long as possible, too. Sure, something had happened to them, something bad. And they had lost some time, that was for sure. But they had to have a bit more hope, even if it sounded crazy. His best friend sighed, looking distressed. Steve knew Bucky was hating the situation. As the Winter Soldier, he had moved from decade to decade without his consent and even knowledge, a lot of times, so the brunet hated those sort of things, just like he did. Still, Bucky clapped one hand on Steve’s shoulder and tried to smile to him. 

“C’mon punk, let’s wake up the others,” he said, gathering the courage to do so from neither of them knew, and Steve nodded, getting to work. He woke up Bruce first, because the scientist had a different nature than the rest of them, and was, maybe, a bit better than the rest of their teammates. He looked at Steve confused beyond words and blinking rapidly. Now that he was looking at him up close, Steve noticed he had some wrinkles around his eyes that weren’t there before. He seemed to have more grey hairs, too, which was a little bit disturbing. 

“Cap?” He asked, trying to locate himself. Steve smiled sweetly, trying to calm the scientist down -he didn’t want the Hulk making an appearance anytime soon, please-, and rested a steady hand on his shoulder. 

“Hi, Bruce”

“What’s going on? Why do you look older? What happened? Where are the others?” Bruce asked, a rapid-fire of questions that uncomfortably reminded Steve of his husband. _Tony_. He had to get to Tony. He had to know if Tony was okay. 

“I don’t know what’s going on, Bruce, but please breathe” he pleaded, forcing his own breathing to slow down a bit and making Bruce imitate him. The Doctor was quick to catch on, not wanting the Hulk to appear either”. I don’t know why I look older either, but you do, too. I don’t know what happened, and the others are fine, I think. They’re just sleeping” he explained. Bruce nodded, slowly, and looked around, frowning when he realized he could barely see a thing.

“But how…?” He started, and then his muscles tensed a bit”. Oh, damn. The mission”

“Yeah” the blond sighed, running a hand through his hair in repressed frustration “. Something went wrong, but not Buck nor I remember what exactly happened”

“I don’t either, Cap, sorry” the doctor apologized. Steve sighed, shaking his head, knowing if he didn’t remember it was most likely none of the members of the team did.

“It’s okay. The important thing is that you’re okay. Now we have to wake up the others and leave this place before the guy comes back” he explained, resting his hand on Bruce’s side to help him up. They needed to get moving and to wake everyone else up. Even if they were awake, they didn’t know if whoever had kept them there was going to come for them once again. Bruce nodded, and stood up after only a few attempts. 

“Damn, my entire body hurts,” he said, his breathing coming in rapid takes, which worried Steve a bit more.

“Yeah” the Captain sighed again “, it’s the same for Bucky and me, but I can only guess we’d been laying in these beds for a while… although, I don’t know how long”

“I fear I feel kind of beaten down, too, my friend Steve” he heard Thor say. Steve turned around to see Bucky helping the God stand up, and could only smile sympathetically at him, understand how uncomfortable he must’ve been. Still, he was really glad to see him up and conscious.

“It’s okay, big guy. I’m sure we’ll all feel better soon” he tried to assure him, even when he didn’t exactly know that would be right. Still, it had to be. He had to go home to his husband and their little boy. Thor smiled, nodding. Together, all four of them helped to wake the other ones up. Everyone was confused, and most of them looked in pain when they move; Steve was especially shocked when he saw Wanda. She was a kid when he had closed his eyes and now she looked like an adult. 

“What the fuck happened to us?” Clint asked, looking at his teammates. They, just like the archer, had no idea. They were pretty scared, too, fear and worry mixing in their stomachs and making them feel uneasy. Something big had happened to them, that much was clear, but what, exactly? 

“We don’t know” Steve answered for all of them, looking at his teammates, too. He decided to take on the lead; the sooner they got out of there, the sooner he would be with his boys“. But right now that’s not important. We have to focus on getting out of here before anyone comes in”

“Cap’s right,” Sam said, clapping his hands together and trying not to wince at the sensation of discomfort “. We gotta get out of here” 

“Damn right” Bucky agreed, going to the door. With only little hesitation he broke it and opened it, shrugging at his teammates’ stunned gazes “. What? Whoever trapped us here is gonna attack us either way. It’s better if we go to them to fight, right?”

“Well, he’s not wrong” Natasha sighed, stepping outside before the ex-assassin. The others followed her, ready to fight even when they were still feeling sore and in different states of pain. 

They didn’t get too far, though. Not even one hundred feet from the door, they found the dead body of their kidnapper. It seemed like he had been dead for a while -a few days, maybe. One week tops-. He seemed older than the team remembered, too, and that only worried them even more. They ran quickly to get out of there, having stolen the man’s phone first to try to call someone the moment they could. Once they were out of the place, they first realized it was late in the evening. Second: it was kind of hot, so... maybe they’d been a few months in a comatose state. Only the thought of that made them shiver. 

“What do we do now?” Wanda asked, her voice trembling. Natasha put a comforting arm around her, trying to calm her down. The last thing they needed was someone freaking out. 

“We have to call for help” Sam, being the logical one, said. He could understand his teammates’ state of shock, but he had to be the one to snap them out of it. He could see Steve’s brain working at full-speed, trying to be able to guess just how many time he’d lost again. And now was worse, Sam knew. Now Steve had someone waiting for him back home, a husband and a kid that changed quickly. Who knew how Peter was right now. Personally, Sam guessed they had lost six months, maybe a year. Sure, some of them had grey hairs, but who knew what they had been going through while asleep.

“Great idea!” Thor exclaimed, breaking the Falcon out of his inner rant, which he was grateful for. Thor could’ve probably flown somewhere, Sam too, but they felt too tired, too exhausted (which was an ironic thought, given the fact that they had just spent some time asleep) “. Which one of us can get a raven the fastest? It’s the best solution after a mobile phone, isn’t it?” 

“Thor, buddy,” Bruce said, smiling gently at him “, Steve grabbed a phone. I think we’re gonna use that” 

“Yeah, sounds like a solid idea, to me,” Clint said “. Now the question is: who do we call? Tony?”

“No” Steve immediately said, even when his brain was yelling at him to do exactly that. His husband always knew what to do, always had a plan ready before the majority of them had grasped what was happening. Steve knew if Tony was there he’d already drawn a hundred different plans. However… he knew something else about his love “. If we’ve been out a few months, like I suppose, he’s going to freak out when we call him, I’m sure”

“Then who do we call?” Natasha asked, nodding her head to tell Steve she agreed with him. And truly, she did. Steve knew the engineer better than her, but she still knew Tony pretty well, and she could definitely agree with Steve that Tony would freak out, especially if they’d been out for months and he had had to take care of the Avengers and, most importantly, Peter, alone.

“We can try to call Fury, I guess” Steve mumbled, biting his bottom lip. Fury was the next best option, or Coulson, and the Captain was sure Fury would make sure they were okay, would make sure Tony knew in a way that was not going to freak the engineer out.

“I think Fury is a good idea. Call him already, punk” Bucky spoke out after a while of not doing so. He was looking better than a few minutes prior, ore color to his face, which calmed the super-soldier a tiny bit. He nodded towards Bucky and then dialed Fury’s phone, glad that he knew it by heart. Not even two beeps later, someone picked it up. Holding his breath, Steve waited for Nick to speak.

“Hello?” He heard, and that was not Nick. The voice seemed kind of familiar though, so… oh, he realized, Hill! Thank Heaven, someone they actually knew and trusted.

“Hill?” He asked, tentatively. 

“Yes, who is it?”

“Hill, it’s me, Steve,” he said, and then he heard a take of breath, and the line stayed silent for a few uncomfortable moments.

“What…? Sir, do you know this is a really confidential phone number, right? How did you get it, anyway?” She asked him, and the Brooklyn boy was surprised to notice anger in her tone. But, what…?Why…?

“Maria, I told you: it’s me, Steve. Steve Stark-Rogers” he repeated. Steve heard an exasperated sigh on the other side of the phone, and frowned. Why was Hill acting like that? It was really strange. Clint poked his arm and looked at him, confused.

“What’s up?” He asked, voicing what everyone else was thinking. Steve shrugged, not knowing what was happening himself. Maria decided to speak again, and this time she seemed even more mad.

“Look, Sir, I don’t know in which world you thought it was okay to prank call this number, but this is not funny. Now, this is not something you can joke about, so let me assure you there’s going to be consequences”

“Maria, goddamn it, it’s me!” Steve yelled, terribly frustrated. They were on an island with no way of getting back to civilization except, for the moment, that call to Maria Hill- after all, the Quinjet that had taken them there had left after dropping them off. Worst part? Steve had sent if back on autopilot. Which meant if they had been there, not having been found, the Quinjet had been most likely destroyed even before arriving at the States. Not good. And Steve just wanted to get back to his home, to his loves, and Maria was not helping him, nor believing - and he didn’t even know how “. Can you tell Fury to come to the phone? We’re lost and we don’t know what happened”

There was silence on the other side. For a moment, Steve feared she was going to hang up, block their number, take them for crazy. The battery of the phone was dying and they didn’t know how to get back in. As a last resort, they could call Tony, _or_ wait for Sam and Thor to regain forces to fly out of there, but it was too risky.

“How can I believe you’re telling me the truth?” She asked. Steve was surprised when he noticed her voice trembling. Still, he answered, desperation making his brain all foggy. He thought of something he only knew, and quickly came up with something.

“Well, because… oh, because I know this: you got your arm stuck on a vending machine because your Doritos had stuck inside. I was the only one who saw and helped you out, and I swore to not tell anyone, especially Fury”

Silence, again. Steve didn’t know what to do: for some reason, Maria was not believing his words (why, he didn’t even know), and she was taking her time in answering, just as if she wasn’t sure of her next words, or what she had just heard. It didn’t help to put his mind to rest, quite the opposite of that. If Maria was having trouble believing him, then… what had truly happened?

“Oh, dear God…” he heard her whisper. Then, in a much louder tone, she yelled “Nick! Nick, quick, come to the phone!”

Steve waited a few more seconds, smiling to his teammates in a useless attempt to calm them down, until the recognizable voice of Fury came to life.

“Hill, what’s going on? I was occupied with paperwork” he heard, a bit far off compared to Hill’s voice. Still, it was almost calming to hear Fury’s voice.

“Trust me, sir, you want to take this phone call”

“Alright” Steve heard sounds of the phone being handed, and then the director was speaking to him, finally “Yes?”

“Nick? It’s me, Steve” he said, trying to be as patient as possible. A moment of silence (seriously, what was up with that? Steve was quickly growing annoyed, and worried as hell by all the silence pauses), and then…

“Oh you motherfucker” he heard him whisper, pure disbelief in his voice “, tell me you’re not joking”

“I am not, Nick” the Super-soldier huffed, almost wanting to cry in frustration “. Please, listen to me. We just woke up in the middle of the pacific. The guy we went after brought us to an unknown island in the middle of the pacific. We thought we had won, and that he was done, but then the bunker we were in turned into a maze and the guy knocked us out… we just woke up, and we don’t know how to get out of here. Please, help?” He ended it, almost breathless. The line stayed in silence for almost half a minute, and Steve could practically see the engines turn in Fury’s head. He just hoped he believed him.

“Send me your coordinates, now” Fury ordered him, and Steve refrained himself from sighing in relief”. And I swear, if this is a joke…”

“God, it’s not. Why can’t you people believe me?” Steve said, stopping himself again, this time from groaning.

“Stay there,” Fury said, ignoring him “, we can be there in a few hours, just… stay there. And don’t call anyone else, understood?”

“Er… yeah, Sir. Sure”

Fury didn’t say anything else, choosing to hang up instead. Steve pocketed the phone and looked at his teammates, who truly looked as confused as him. He could practically see all of them trying to figure out why it had taken this long, why not Maria, nor Nick, had believed their words at first.

“What was that?” Natasha asked, crossing her arms across her chest. 

“Yeah, did something happen?” Sam also asked. Steve sighed, throwing his arms in the air, feeling some desperation finally manifesting. He let it show, but forced himself to not let everything go. He had to be ready for anything.

“I don’t know! Maria didn’t believe me at first, and neither did Fury!” He exclaimed, watching how the faces of his teammates changed at his words, and how worried they grew about the new information learned. Steve could understand them, because he was feeling just as worried”.He told me they can be here in a few hours, after I told him what happened, so I guess he finally did believe me”

“Why they didn’t believe you?” Wanda asked. Steve shrugged, not really sure. He could guess, sure, and maybe it had to do with their (possible) disappearance. But to be in that amount of disbelief? It barely made any sense.

“I don’t know. Maybe they weren’t expecting me to call? It doesn’t make sense”

“No, it actually does,” Bruce said, suddenly next to him “. Guys, it’s clear we’ve spent some time here. We don’t know exactly how long, but it’s been at least a few months. And, if that’s the case, then they probably tried to contact us before, right when we went missing. Hence, us contacting them it’s surprising if they couldn’t get a connection before. Am I making any sense? My head is still pounding”

“Yeah, don’t worry Bruce,” Thor said, frowning “. I think we should call the Man of Iron, then. He must be worried, and I’m sure he’ll know what to do”

“Fury told me to not call anyone else for now,” Steve said, frowning as well. He had known he could not call Tony, not really, and yet being told the same thing by the director of SHIELD was putting him on high alert“, and I have to agree with him on that one. Especially with Tony… we don’t know what has happened, so we gotta be careful, alright? And calling our loved ones it’s not careful”

“Tony is an Avenger, too” Sam pointed out “, so he has to know something, right?”

“Let’s just wait until Fury gets here,” Natasha said, agreeing with their leader. Calling Tony sounded tempting, but they all knew it was too risky. 

They all took a seat around there, trying to calm down and not freak out too much. Thor was the only one who looked kind of normal, but Steve thought that was normal. He was a God, after all, so he was supposed to live a really long life. Thus, he was going to age slower than the rest of them. Still, how much time had passed? Steve was too afraid to ask, and knew Bruce was already thinking through it. He was sure Fury was going to tell them sooner or later, but then again: he was too scared. He thought about Tony and Peter, the two people he loved the most in the world: were they okay? Were they worried, did they know about him calling Fury already? Was Peter even aware of what had happened, or had Tony tried to keep him in the dark for a bit while longer, trying to keep his sweet innocence?

Nobody really talked in the time they were waiting for their director, but soon enough (maybe four, or five hours since Steve’s call, which were both short and endless for the Captain), they saw a Quinjet land in the beach. They all ran towards it and arrived in time to see Fury opening the doors and slowly walking out of the vehicle. His expression was one of pure bewilderment, and Steve really wanted to know _why_ , what had happened (at the same time, he was terrified to bring himself to ask, to discover his life had changed way too much, again).

“No fucking way…” he whispered “. Just… no fucking way”

“Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Steve asked, smiling, feeling worried and scared, and feeling exhaustion in his bones; but still, he was closer to coming home, and seeing someone familiar was putting his mind in some sort of peace. His short answer, besides, was enough for Fury to snap his attention at him, smiling widely.

“You son of a guy!” He exclaimed and then, to Steve’s surprise, ran the rest of the way and hugged him. Steve was a little bit confused, knowing Fury was not an affectionate person, really, but hugged him back. When he broke the hug, though, he was a little bit taken back, because Fury looked older. He had more wrinkles, and his beard had grey hairs here and there. He adopted a more serious expression, trying to start comprehending what had happened to him and his teammates. 

“Fury, what happened?” He asked, hating how the director’s face changed instantly, just as if he was not expecting Steve to ask right away. But the blond had already waited enough; he had to know if his boys were okay, he had to know what had exactly happened and why Fury had specifically asked him to not call his husband. He felt lost, standing in the middle of the ocean and not being able to grab onto anything, completely detached from reality and not knowing his surroundings anymore. The sensation was almost drowning, deafening, and he wanted to get rid of it.

“It’s a long story, Captain” the director finally said, shaking his head, and then used his head to gesture towards the Quinjet”. How about I explain it in the Quinjet with you already safe?”

“But, we have to know what happened inside that place” Natasha objected. She wanted to get out of there, sure, but she also knew they’d been _stopped_ , they’d been held… them. The best team in the world had been partly defeated. They had to do something about it, even when everyone wanted to go home.

“I’ll send someone, I swear” Nick promised her, and Steve was glad he had called the pirate; after all, he was one of the few who could actually convince Natasha to let something rest for a bit. Not let go, no-one could really convince her of that “, and if they disappear too at least we know where they are. But if someone comes to attack us, I prefer to be away”

“The guy who was keeping us here is dead,” Clint said “, we found him. Probably natural death, so maybe no one else is in this island”

“Still, Barton, we cannot be sure of that. Time to go” Fury told them. And Steve knew, he knew it was irresponsible to just leave; after all, Nat was right: they didn’t know what had happened on that island, and the fact was they had been trapped there for a while. Who knew what they had done to them, who knew if there was an entire team behind the ordeal. Maybe someone had important information about them, maybe they had tried to recreate the super-soldier serum: they simply didn’t know. Still… he wanted to go home. His body was screaming at him to get into the Quinjet. In a mix of fear of the unknown and exhaustion, Steve decided that, for once, he was going to be selfish. When he started to walk towards the Quinjet, toFury’s no surprise, the rest of the team followed him. They quickly got into the Quinjet, and discovered only Fury had been in there, not even Maria Hill insight.

“We needed to be discreet with this” the director explained, closing the doors and going to the pilot chair, letting the rest of the team accommodate themselves “, the fewer people who knew about it, the better”

Steve stood by his side in silence, looking as Nick initiated the Quinjet and got them in the air. The Quinjet in itself seemed more advanced, like it had gotten a huge makeover (he could see some designs Tony had just been tinkering with when he had left built in the Quinjet, and they even looked more developed than Tony’s original idea), and Steve tried to prepare for what was coming next. How many time had gone by? Months? It felt like the most likely response. A year? Two? Maybe even five? He’d die if that was the case… if five years had passed wit them trapped there then that meant Peter was about twelve: a pre-teenager, already, and not a little boy he could cuddle anymore. It would mean he would’ve lost another five years of his life, sure, but most importantly: he would have missed five years of his _family_ ’s life, of Tony’s smiles and crazy ideas, five years of Peter’s childhood. He could not have missed that much, _please_. 

“Why it had to be discreet, Nick?” He finally asked, making his hands into fists to stop them from shaking as bad as they were starting to do. The director sighed and stood up, after putting the Quinjet on autopilot mode. He looked at all the members of the team before looking at the leader of it again.

“What’s the last thing you remember, Captain? What happened in the mission?” He asked, more serious than a moment before. Pleasantries were done, Steve realized, and now Fury was on boss-mode, trying to get as much information as possible and be neutral. The blond surprised himself by feeling relieved by it; he needed some control, something he felt familiar with, something he could actually work with. Something he could grab on to. 

“Well… we were fighting this guy in his bunker, and we thought we had knocked him out” he started, forcing his voice to lose the little trembling he had at the beginning “.We had won and were about to leave, but… it turned out to be a goddamn maze, the bunker. It was full of traps, and one of those got to us. I just remember running, and then black, and then… waking up in a circular room. I felt sore, and my entire body hurt. The rest of the team was also there, all laying in mattresses, in kind of a circle. Bucky woke up a couple of minutes after I did, and then we woke up the others, got out of that place-“

“Finding the corpse of the guy in the process” Clint chirped in. Steve nodded, and continued the story, trying to study Fury’s face. But the director’s face was too neutral to really know what was going on in his head. He decided to finish the story as soon as possible, maybe in a desperate attempt to get Fury to talk, to tell him (them) everything he needed to know about the world they had left behind.

“And then we called you, and Maria picked up. Fury, why did she didn’t believe me at first? What happened?” He asked, not even caring about how desperate he just sounded. Every minute that passed without him knowing about his boys was excruciating, and he desperately needed something to grab onto. 

“Yeah, why are we looking older?” Sam asked, in a clear attempt to light up the mood “I mean, I still look good, but others just don’t have the same luck” he gestured towards Bucky, who flipped him off, also clearly having decided to play along. He could see Steve on the edge of a nervous breakdown, and he wanted to keep his best friend from it for as long as possible.

“I’m a Super Soldier, you jerk. I’m way better conserved than you” he replied. Steve shook his head at his best friends, asking himself how in hell were those two part of the earth’s mightiest heroes while a small but fond smile played on his lips. When he looked at Fury, though, he realized how truly serious he looked once again. And, sure, the director was serious more often than not, but… it felt like something else at that time. Something bad.

“It’s a long story, guys. But, I guess you deserve to know” he finally said, looking five years older in just a second. 

“Nick, what is it?” Natasha asked, and even she was getting worried. No one could ever really blame her; Fury seemed to take his time in telling them the truth, just as he was worried about telling it. It did nothing but worry them. 

“You guys… “ he started, and then stopped for a second, trying to find the right words. He cleared his throat and started once again “. Well, you guys disappeared a while ago. No one knew what had happened to you: we searched for you, did so in every way we could, but: nothing. We couldn’t find you. Everybody thought you were dead. All of you, even Thor”

“But I am a God,” the Asgardian said. He knew Gods could die, of course, but for a simple Midgardian mission? Come on. Fury shrugged.

“You were with them, at the moment. Everybody back on civilization kind of… lost hope” he revealed. A silence fell upon the team, all of them inevitably thinking about every loved one they had left behind, and how they must’ve felt. Steve could not help but have his boys in his mind, which was yelling at him to ask the most important question.

“Nick” The Captain interrupted Fury, trying to keep his voice even “For how long have we been gone? A few months?” Fury sighed, shaking his head, and Steve’s insides froze. He’d expected to be more than a few months if he was honest, but to have it confirmed… it gave him chills “. A year? Two? Please, Nick, tell us”

Nick sighed again, and looked at all of them before answering, eyes boring into Steve’s soul, it seemed. He instantly knew it was going to be bad, that it was, somehow, going to destroy him once again. He tried to brace himself, but knew he could never, not really. He just tensed his muscles and waited for the director to speak again.

“It’s been thirteen years, Captain”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter! As you saw, lots of things still have to happen and be solved. Soon, I promise.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought in the comments, and also, if there's something specific you guys want to see, feel free to tell me! Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How many years did he say again?
> 
> just... how many?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! so i figured it was time i posted the next part, hehe. i promise i will try to not take this long for the next one!
> 
> enjoy!

“It’s been thirteen years, Captain” the director finally revealed, and the world stopped for a moment. The whole team gasped, looking at the director with eyes wide and shocked expressions on their faces.

“What?” Steve breathed after a moment. Thirteen years… _thirteen years_. Thirteen… God, what? Thirteen… what? That was more than a few months. _Goddamn_ , that was more than a few years. Thirteen…

“Sir, no, that’s not possible” Wanda whispered, bringing a hand to rest over her mouth and breaking Steve out of his spiraling thoughts. He couldn’t help but _really_ look at her, realizing how much older she truly looked. Granted, she was still young but… she was no longer a kid. Fury nodded to her words with a sad expression in his face. As much as he was glad (oh, so few little times he’d felt more happy than he was feeling in those moments), it was breaking his heart to break the news to the team. 

“I’m afraid it is, Miss Maximoff. You guys disappeared thirteen years ago” he said, figuring he had to be more blunt than not. The team needed to understand what had happened, and from the looks of it, Steve was still in shock. Not like Fury could actually blame him, of course. 

“So, Peter…” The Captain murmured after a couple of minutes in silence, shocked and still doubting to believe his director. Fury looked at him again, eyes showing how bad he felt about it all. He knew it’d been hard for Tony to raise Peter all on his own (despite the help he had had), but to find out your son was thirteen years older than the last time you’d seen him? Steve had missed Peter’s childhood, and all of his teenage years. As much as Tony had been hurting he still had had Peter by his side to remind him of his husband, but now Steve had not only lost thirteen years, but the kid and husband he’d known- lost them as he remembered, because both men were vastly different than what they’d been last time Steve had seen them. Nick could understand it’d take a while for the Captain to wrap his head around it.

“He’s twenty right now” he finally said, not sure of what he was expecting when he said that. Surely Steve could do the math (his son being seven when they disappeared, plus thirteen years equaled twenty, it wasn’t that hard), but still, Fury decided to just tell him to rip the band-aid a little faster… and maybe rougher. 

“Holy hell” Buck whispered, having to sit down. Sam rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he looked shaken up, too. They had been close to Peter, especially Bucky, and to know the kid they had always love to tease and play with was now an adult… put things a bit into place. They had been gone for _thirteen years_.

“I don’t get it, how?” Bruce asked, trying to wrap his mind around it. Thor went by Steve’s side, offering support when he saw just how pale his soul brother looked. The shorter of the two couldn’t really talk to show his gratefulness, but he knew Thor knew he appreciated. His kid… his kid was…

“We don’t know what happened, either” Fury said, trying to help the team in every way he could “, you guys just vanished. Nobody could find you- and trust me, we looked, so they declared you all missing in action thirteen years ago. We tried to search for you, we sent parties to do so. Everyone did, from the government to individuals who wanted to help. We did so for years, but we could not find so and so, five years ago you were declared KIA”

“Killed in action?” Sam asked, shocked “ Wait, does that mean we are officially ‘dead’?” He asked, and Steve looked at him, shocked out of his thoughts. Dead? Sure, it made sense, especially after being lost for so long. He tried to imagine how that must’ve been for his husband and son, although, at the same time, he tried to not think about Tony holding out hope of finding him for eight years, until… God, everything was a mess.

“Yeah, Wilson, you all are” Fury said then, snapping Steve out of his thoughts “. We had a ceremony for when you disappeared, and an official funeral five years ago. We all thought you were dead”

“All?” Steve asked, voice shy and shaky. A small part of him wished for his husband to not lose hope, even when he knew it was silly- but still, it was Tony, the one person who never gave up… surely he wouldn’t have given up on him, right? Fury sighed again and nodded, and the blond refused to let that break his heart even more.

“Yeah, Captain. We all did it” he confessed, trying to tell Steve just how sorry he was about everything with just his eyes. Steve nodded subtly towards him, being able to appreciate Fury’s words, but still feeling like he’d been punched a thousand times.

“How did Tony take it?” Natasha asked, fearing for their favorite genius, and also for their nephew. Steve looked at Fury with desperation in his eyes then, dying to get more information about his husband. Tony had been his lifeline for years, the one person to hold him sane, and he knew it was reciprocal, so… to know Steve was not there anymore would’ve been brutal.

“I wasn’t there to give him the news” the director revealed, shrugging “, Rhodey was. We thought he was the better option. He told me… he told me Tony just… he just stared at nothing, like his mind was not processing what had happened. He left shortly after because Tony asked him to”

“Bad idea” Clint murmured while his eyes were fixed on Steve. The blond seemed to be slowly going into shock, and the heartbreak the director’s words was clearly reflected in his eyes “Tony can do crazy things when he’s alone”

“He asked Rhodey to leave so he could tell Peter alone” Fury said. Steve’s attention snapped back to him after getting lost in the idea of Tony going through that much pain. He wanted, more than anything, to go back in time and not go to that mission. He knew that was not possible, so the next best thing was to be with his husband already, hugging him and telling him he was back and okay and with him and- Peter. How was Peter?

“How did he take it?” He asked, his mind quickly moving from his husband to his kid. Tony was older than Peter, and thus more aware of what was happening, but Peter was still a very bright kid, and he was seven when Steve disappeared- plenty aware. God, his baby boy-

“He was a kid, Captain” Fury told him, again deciding to be a bit blunt “. Bad, he took it bad. The first time I saw them after the news broke was a few days after and they were… they were just broken. Maria and I stayed with them for hours, just laying in bed in silence”

“Laying in bed?” Bucky asked, voice shaky, too. Fury nodded, looking sorry for all of them.

“It’s where they were. They were just in bed for… weeks. Couldn’t find the strength to get out of there. But, they finally did, after a month. They both attended the ceremony, and prepared the funerals five years ago, when Peter was fifteen”

“Are they okay?” Steve asked, still in shock. He knew he was crying, but honestly: he didn’t care. It felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest, leaving him empty. To know his boys had gone through that much, to know they had suffered that much, and thanks to him… it was breaking him from the inside out. And the idea of their funerals being when Peter was _fifteen_ … it was sort of mind-blowing, to acknowledge his son had been a teenager, and he was not even that anymore. He was _twenty_ years old.

“They are. I saw them a couple of days ago, had dinner with them” Fury said, clapping his shoulder in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, even if he knew there was nothing that could (truly) calm the Captain down, not after everything he’d learned “. They’re okay, Steve, don’t worry. Peter is quite the young man”

Steve nodded, not knowing how to process everything that was being thrown his way. He had told his husband and his son he was going to be away for two weeks. _Two weeks_ , not thirteen fucking years. They thought he was dead, Peter grew up thinking one of his parents was dead, not having Steve there for him (as much as he hoped he was there in his son’s life spiritually, at least) and Tony… Tony had to take on the role of a single father, raise their son all on their own, teach Peter everything he knew, make sure he grew up in a safe and good environment… and all of that of his own again.

Well, hold on: was he still single even? Steve could not ever hold against Tony a new found love -couldn’t, wouldn’t, and he definitely didn’t want to-, and he knew how amazing his husband was. Tony just charmed everyone he met with his smile and clever words, so… Steve could imagine someone falling in love with him, healing his wounds, being there for him and for Peter. It hurt, as much as it felt it okay, to some extent. After all, he wanted his boys to be happy and okay before anything else, and if that meant they had rebuilt their lives with someone else then Steve would be okay with it and would accept it. His boys had gone through a lot, and Steve could only adapt to their new lives, that much he knew already. As mind-blowing as it was, Steve knew the lives that were about to change as much as his own was the ones of his boys.

“It’s better if you guys rest for a while, now” Fury said then, smiling sympathetically at them “. We’ll be home in a couple of hours. You can get more answers then, okay? Right now it’s a lot of information I’m sure it’s hard to process. So rest for a bit, okay? It’s an order”

They all nodded, too in shock to even think about complaining, and Fury took a seat in the pilot’s place again.And as much as he wanted to protest and ask for more information, Steve couldn’t just wrap his head around the new information he had just learned. Sure, he had assumed some time had passed. And it made sense for the world to think they were, at least, missing. But, _thirteen_ _years_? They were gone for thirteen years? That little ( _huge_ ) fact kept rolling around in his head, around and around and- First of all, how in hell had that guy managed to keep them asleep for that long and alive? 

And… he didn’t even want to think about how things must’ve changed. His son was twenty years old, for heaven’s sake. The last time Steve had seen him Peter had been an adorable and innocent kid, barely seven years old. He still wanted Steve to carry him when he was feeling too tired or when he was feeling distressed, or scared, or sick. Steve still told him stories before bed, still cuddled him in the couch while seeing Disney movies, he still taught him how to draw (nothing with maths or scientific subjects, that was his husband’s forte). Now? Peter was a man now. Young, but a man. And Steve… he had just missed _everything_. He had missed his son’s last years of childhood, he had missed his son’s teenage years, the most important of Peter’s life. He had missed his son developing his personality, and becoming the man he was destined to be. He had missed on how teaching Peter how to shave, drive, he’d missed on giving advice about those first crushes and relationships, he’d missed talking about colleges, and graduation, he’d missed… He had missed every single thing he could’ve missed. 

Suddenly he remembered something important, so he pocketed his chest and felt relieved when he found what he was looking for. He put it out of his jacket and looked at it: the drawing Peter had given to him just moments before he had left their home. He looked at the three figures, and at the messy writing of his son, reading with adoration: _I love you, Papa! And I’m gonna miss you, see you soon! Peter._

‘I failed you, Peter’ Steve thought, barely managing to contain his tears ‘, I failed you, and I left you alone. You and your Dad, damn it, and I.. I’m so _sorry_ , baby, I didn’t mean to”’

He kept looking at the picture for the rest of the trip., letting his thoughts take him to one place to another, going over Fury’s words one time, and another, and then a hundred more times. He knew his teammates were worrying about him, he knew they knew he was slowly breaking down, but Steve didn’t need that. They had missed thirteen years of their lives, too, so Steve didn’t needed, nor wanted, pity. 

“We’re here” Fury finally announced. The blond saved the drawing and followed Fury outside, frowning when he did so. They were in some lonely place, deserted of any worker or even janitors, and, as much time had gone by he knew that was not their home.

“Fury, where are we?” Bucky asked, voicing his best friend’s silent question. 

“We’re in a non-active wing of the Compound” Fury quickly answered, knowing the team was already on edge to even cause them to be more nervous or to have more questions”. For now, only Hill and I know you’re actually alive. And I’m sure you don’t want your loved ones finding out about it thanks to external people”

“Yeah, you’re right” Steve sighed, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew the director was right, but still, it sucked “. Fury, please, can you take me to my family? I have to see them, _please_ ”

“I will, Steve, but please we need you checked out, all of you. You can also have a shower and rest for a bit, alright? And when you’re in a better state then we’ll take you wherever you want” Fury promised. Steve wanted to protest but he felt too tired to do so, so he followed the groups through the hallways. On their way Fury told them Hill had told Helen Cho about the news, so she was waiting for them to be checked up in the medical bay. The director had made sure it was deserted of all other people, and Steve thought he should feel grateful, but he was still numb, like his mind didn’t quite know what to do with all the new information he had received.

Seeing Helen Cho helped him, though. She was really emotional at their greeting, hugging them and telling them she had missed them. It was nice, just like when they had reunited with Fury, even when seeing how much older she looked was a bit off-putting. Hill also came to say hi, and she was just like Cho, an emotional mess, and a shock for the team. Hill had always been a beautiful woman, and to be frank, the years had not changed her that much- but the change was _still_ there, was visible for the team, was another sign of just how much time had passed. Still, both of them were at the top of their game, explaining most recent events on Earth that Fury hadn’t (avoiding topics that were too personal), and treating them - mainly Cho giving orders and Fury and Hill following them. When they were done, Fury gave them time to shower and change into nicer clothes in hopes of them feeling more humans and wash some of the shock off. 

Steve took a long shower, shaving off the dirt and exhaustion he had accumulated, or at least part of. He shaved his beard and carefully cut his own hair, until he looked more like himself.He reunited with the rest of his teammates on the living room, and they looked dead tired. Fury came into the room, smiling gently at them.

“Get some sleep” he said “, and tomorrow we’ll take you wherever you want, alright?”

“But, Fury-“ Steve tried to protest, feeling a bit of anger starting to form in his low stomach. He’d been _promised_ something, he had been promised he was going to see his boys. The super spy raised his hand, stopping the captain from any type of complaint. 

“Steve, trust me, you need the rest” Fury told him, signing to the rest of the team. And Steve knew, he knew he was tired and barely able to think things straight, he knew that he probably had to have a few hours to process everything in a way that allowed him to meet his husband and son and not be too shocked- _but he didn’t want to_ ”.If you guys want to search for information, _not personal_ , you have the TV. There’s a keyboard on the table, just type whatever. I’ll see you all tomorrow, alright? And we’ll go to the Tower to see Peter and Tony. And guys” the director added after a bit, smile sincere and eyes that showed exhaustion, yet pure happiness “…I’m really, really happy to see you. Truly”

“Thank you, Nick,” the Captain said, smiling genuinely at the man. After all, he was not at a fault- he had rescued from the island and only wanted to help them. Even more so, he only wanted to help Tony and Peter, to protect them after all the heartbreak they had to go through, and Steve, if anything, could appreciate that“. Where are the rooms for us to sleep?”

“End of the hallway, Captain. Good night” Fury said, smiling one last time and quickly leaving the room. 

“Goodnight,” everyone said back. Steve waited a minute, to make sure Fury was far from them, and then went towards the sofas and sat in front of the keyboard. Fury had _technically_ given them permission, right? He wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“Stevie?” Bucky asked, sitting next to his best friend with his eyebrow raised in a way that told Steve the super-soldier knew him way too well, and probably knew what he wanted to do. Still, because he probably wanted to be wrong, he still asked: “ What are you doing?”

“If Fury doesn’t want me to see my son and husband today in person, then that’s fine,” he said, trying to figure out the keyboard. He had had a hard time with technology before, not really used to using it despite all the time he’d spent in the future, but now it was even worse“. I’m still searching something about them at least. I _have_ to know how they are, Buck. Not knowing it’s killing me”

Bucky looked at him like he wanted to complain, to tell them they had to listen to Fury, but alas: they had never been too good at listen and obeying orders, especially Steve. And they both knew that Bucky would follow him into whatever mess he did, even it was to save his ass. 

“I’m with you, Cap” Clint said, breaking them out of their silent conversation and sitting down in the sofa next to theirs. The rest of the Avengers also sat down, and they turned on the TV, looking at the screen for a few moments and trying to think what to do next.

“Okay, what do we search first?” Sam asked, deciding to break the ice. Personally, he wanted to find out about his family- his Mom the first in the list-, but Tony and Peter were also his family and, if he had to think realistically, there wasn’t much he could find of his Mom online, and most would be confusing. He would wait for Fury to inform him and take him to her, and would let Steve find out about his husband and son. Besides, the blond had always been the impatient one.

“Something about Tony or Peter, right?” Wanda asked, crossing her arms across his chest. It was still wild to look at her and look how much she’d changed in a blink of an eye. “Maybe related with us disappearing? So we know what happened then”

“Good idea, Wanda” Bruce smiled, gesturing to Steve to type it. The Captain nodded and wrote it down on the search bar and then clicked with shaking fingers. Quickly thousands of websites appeared, options endless and overwhelming. Steve read the first one and clicked on it, feeling way too dizzy. 

“Tony Stark’s letter to the people?” Thor read, confused “For what?”

“Let’s see” the Captain said. The website had a picture that was in itself a statement. Clint cleared his throat and proceeded to read, figuring Steve didn’t have the voice. 

_Dear World,_

_First of all, I’d like to thank you for your your support and respect. In these past weeks, you’ve all been nothing but respectful towards me and Peter, and I’m deeply and utterly grateful. I want to say that, even when I haven’t gone through all of your messages yet -I plan on doing it, FYI-, I’m also grateful for each and every one of them. It warms my heart to read all of your letters, and to know we’re all together in our sorrow. It’s also heartbreakingly beautiful to look at the Tower’s reception, full as it is with your messages of love, and stuffed animals, candles - everything you guys could think of._

_I also want to thank you all in the name of the Avengers that went missing. I say thank you in their name to every one of you who has prayed or sent positive energy towards them, who has stopped in their usual lives to just think about them. Thank you._

_As for me and my family, we are broken right now, but it’s something you guys already know. We’re broken in grief, and we’ll be for some time. We’ve just lost the major part of our little family, and Peter and I have lost someone really important and close to our hearts. We know Steve, as the rest of our family, will always stay in our hearts and mind, but it’s a dark time for us and we ask for you to keep respecting us in a time this hard. Please don’t ask my son about his Father, because Peter is a little kid and it’s hard enough for him already to, on top of it, have to constantly talk about it._

_Thank you again, for everything. And Pepper, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this. The PR team can understand I needed to thank all of this support, though._

_Until next time,_

_Tony Stark-Rogers’_

Clint stopped reading with a shaky voice, feeling more overwhelmed than he’d thought possible. Steve sighed and rubbed his face while trying to not cry at Tony’s message. He tried to stop himself from imagining his husband writing the message, maybe in their bed, with Peter asleep right beside him and swallowing his tears, thinking how it _was only two weeks, not a lifetime_. Not thirteen years. He wondered how aware Peter was, if he could’ve understood what was happening, if his own heartbreak allowed him to notice his other father breaking down as well. It hurt to think, that was for sure, but his mind was going over it again and again, viciously. 

Bruce got closer to Clint, seeing the archer too shaken up and the Captain, close to him on the edge of a panic attack, and kept searching for websites himself, trying to snap them out of shock, maybe.

“Here it talks about the disappearance and also the funerals from five years ago, I think” he murmured after a few moments, looking around the room for some sort of approval. 

“Click on it” Natasha said, nodding towards him. Bruce did as told, and then proceeded to read. The website talked about their disappearance, how it had been announced to the world and the reactions. All of them were shocked by everything that had happened, from them trending in every social media to the thousands of messages and gifts at the entrance of the Tower because, sure, they knew they were popular, but to be mourned over like that? To that level? It was beyond themselves, way bigger than they had ever been. 

It also talked about the ceremony, the one they did to pray for their souls shortly after their MIA. They had put images there, and it was the first time Steve saw his husband since the day he had left; Tony was dressed in a dark suit, shades over his red eyes and being his collected and calmed self- the image he put on for the public to see. Steve could see beyond that, though; he saw how his hands were tightly clasped together, he saw how actually tense his figure was, how the line of his shoulders was in a straight line, how insanely rigid he actually was. He could even see Rhodey a few feet away from Tony, careful eyes directed at his best friend with the knowledge that he could break down any given second. 

The next photo actually broke Steve’s heart. It was of his own ceremony (which he found unfair, why was he different?), and it showed his husband and son. Both were dressed in matching suits, and Peter was in Tony’s arms, hiding his head on his Dad’s shoulder while Tony hid his on his son’s curls. Still, even when he couldn’t totally see the faces of his boys, he saw how broken they were by his disappearance, and it totally broke him. To know he had caused them that much pain, to know he was the one to put those tears in his eyes was breaking his heart piece by piece.

“Steve…” Sam said, trying to be gentle “Man, there’s more. It talks about when we were declared killed in action, and… who knows, maybe there’s a pic of Peter and Tony then. It was only five years ago, Cap, Peter’s gonna be a teenager in any pic they may show. Are you ready for that?”

Steve tried to think rationally, which was pretty hard. Was he ready to see his son all grown up? Peter was around fifteen when they were declared KIA indeed, so seeing him was going to be shocking. Plus, he had only grown since that funeral, given the fact that he was twenty now. Truth is: the Captain was not ready at all, not ready to see the confirmation that his son was no longer a kid, that he had truly missed that. However…

“I have to see him,” he said, speaking with a bravery he definitely didn’t feel in any inch of his body. Still,he figured it’d be better if he ripped off the band-aid, right? Besides, his desire, his _need_ to see Peter was bigger than anything else“. I don’t know if I’m ready, but he’s my son. I have to see him”

“Alright,” Sam said, still smiling gently at him. He nodded towards Bruce, and the scientist kept scrolling down. It talked about how they were declared killed in action eight years after their disappearance, after literally thousands of searches without success- which, _how_ in the hell. The ceremony, one for everyone this time (which Steve knew had been his husband’s doing, probably), had been held at Central Park, even when all around the world people had done their own. 

Everyone could attend the funeral, and it shocked them, once again, to see how many people were still aching for their loss. The park was literally packed, in what had turned into a historical day for the Nation- the picture of the park from above was just _insane_. And then, just below that photo… were Tony and Peter.

Steve forgot how to breathe for a moment. His son was so _grown-up_ : a teenager, a young man. He was standing next to his Dad, Tony’s arm thrown over his shoulder. Both of them had a sad expression on their faces, tears on their cheeks, but Steve thought they were the most beautiful things he had ever saw. His husband was just getting better as the years went by. He had more grey hair and wrinkles, just like _they_ had, but he was aging like fine wine. Dressed in a black suit, and without his shades, Tony looked beautiful.

Peter was also gorgeous. He was almost as tall as Tony in that picture but his eyes were as Bambi-like as Steve remembered, although his hair was much less wild than when he was a kid, even when the blond could still see the soft waves and the curls at the edges. His features were sharper, more handsome than just cute or childish. Peter was… Peter was his _son,_ and he was the most precious thing the Captain had ever seen in his life. His heart ached for his kid, for all the changes he’d missed while he was growing up.

“He’s gorgeous” he whispered, not bothering to hide how affected he was by the picture.

“He’s so grown-up” Bruce whispered, too. The other members of the team were pretty speechless at the sight of Peter. Sure, seeing Tony was shocking, too, but he had been already an adult when they had disappeared. Peter’d been a child, innocent and small and all things good in the world. Sam stole the keyboard from Bruce and went to Youtube.

“We’ll find more things here,” he said “, interviews, or just news about them. I mean, the internet is good, but we’ll spend forever reading. In Youtube we’ll learn more and quicker”

Steve nodded, giving his consent, and then Sam started typing. Steve was the head of the group, anyway, and the one person who really was feeling the impact of all of that news. Not like everyone else didn’t- of course they did, they loved Tony and Peter, too-, but it was a whole other level for Steve, who was seeing his husband and son moving on without him and living their lives- of course, the right thing to do under those circumstances. But still…

“What are you searching for?” Bucky asked, trying to brighten up the room a little bit (too much tension, and he knew it was only going to grow). Sam smiled to him, clearly seeing his true intentions and playing along.

“I was going to search Peter if it’s okay with Cap. He’s the one we know less about” the Falcon said, almost timidly. Steve nodded again to his words almost absently, and Sam tried to smile gently at him, unsuccessfully trying to get him to know (or to hope) everything was going to be okay“. Alright, Peter it is”

He typed ‘Peter Stark-Rogers’ and soon enough thousands and thousands of videos popped out. It was kind of overwhelming to see all of those thumbnails made of Peter and about Peter. While he was a kid (while they were all still in his life), both Tony and Steve had made sure to keep their son as private as possible. Tony had hated to be a public figure in his childhood, and Peter waste arguably, a more popular kid than he had been back in the day, being the kid of two superheroes and all, so there hadn’t been that much footage of the youngster online. To know now there was enough to make thousands (if nor millions) or millions was sort of mind-blowing to all. 

“‘Peter Stark being a mood for three minutes straight’” Clint read out loud for them, even when his voice sounded funny “‘Peter Stark being iconic for ten minutes straight’, ‘Peter Stark being a meme for seven minutes straight’. What in the fuck is a meme?”

“I have no idea,” Natasha said, angry when she realized she was so uninformed now. Of course, being her, she could learn everything in a short period of time, but still- frustrating to no end. He noticed Steve frowning at the television and snapped towards him to catch his attention “. You good, Cap?”

“I don’t know” the blond murmured “. It may seem silly, but I just… why does he go by Stark?”

“Peter?” Wanda asked for clarification, receiving a nod in response “. It’s his name. You go by Rogers, Steve”

“Because it’s shorter, and because it separated Tony and I’s professional lives from our personal ones. We became Stark-Rogers when married, but we were someone else before. Peter was Stark-Rogers, period. Why did he… why did he got rid of my name? Was he ashamed of me, was he angry, was…?”

“Okay, stop speaking nonsense man” Sam cut him off “. We don’t know what happened, but I’m pretty sure Peter doesn’t hate you”

“Yes,” Bucky nodded “. That kid worshipped you, Stevie. We wouldn’t hate you, he was too pure. Besides, we don’t know the reasoning behind. Maybe it was because it was easier for Tony and he this way, maybe it’s just his work-name. Let’s find out more about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Steve sighed, not happy with the idea of his soon not putting Rogers next to Stark. It wasn’t like he was being proud, but… in less than a day he’d found out he’d missed his kid’s whole freaking life. Peter erasing the name Steve had given him made him feel like he didn’t exist at all, like Peter had decided to move on and grow up without him.

“‘Peter Stark: the role model this generation needed’” Bruce read out loud, trying to keep the evening going “Click on that one, it’s the less… strange”

“Yeah, good idea. Plus, it’s from literally last week” Sam said while he sighed, not understanding the title of any of the previous videos. It seemed to be some video made by a news channel, maybe. There was a young girl talking, so: news, they all guessed. Steve put all of his attention on it. First, because he already felt proud of Peter with that title. Second, because that video was going to give him information about his kid, something he craved. Maybe, even, something about his last name being only Stark.

> _‘When we think about a role model, we think of people that we should look up to, people who teach us some good examples of behavior and life lessons’_ the girl was saying _‘, and, even when, sometimes, the role models aren’t exactly perfect, every once in a while we get one that is what the generation truly needs. What’s up guys, it’s your girl Nikita, and today I’m here to talk to you guys why Peter Stark is the role model this generation needed. So, for those who don’t know who Peter Stark is: prepare to have a crush on him. It’s pretty much inevitable. And, just a quick FYI: Peter Stark is a genius slash activist slash superhero -yeah, guys, you heard that right- slash kind of a model slash… well, a lot of things, guys. He’s, like, the perfect guy”_

“Did she say superhero?” Wanda asked. The rest of the gang nodded, confused, especially Steve. Superhero, as one of them? Or superhero as he went to soup kitchens every Saturday? God, let it be the latter. 

> _“Peter is the son of Tony and Steve Stark-Rogers”_ Nikita kept saying _“, and was born August 10th of twenty years ago. Sadly, his Father, Steve Stark-Rogers, passed away when Peter was only seven years old. He’s also just finished his studies at MIT, and is already preparing his PhDs! Impressive, huh? Now that you, kind of, know who he is: let’s start with ten reasons why Peter Stark is the role model this generation needed!”_

“He already finished his studies?” Sam asked, impressed “But he’s a baby!”

“Tony also finished them really, really young,” Bruce said, shrugging “, so I kind of expected it”

“Let her talk,” Steve asked. The team shut up, going back to the video.

> _“Number one: he shows it’s okay to show emotions. Okay,_ maybe _a basic first point, but hear me out. Sadly, a lot of people think it’s ‘cooler’ if they mask them, if they just pretend they’re not there. Peter decided, early on, that he was going to show how he felt because, quote ‘It’s okay to show how to feel. It’s okay to cry if you want to, it’s okay to laugh: it’s fine. What it’s not okay is to try you to feel a different way in front of others. If you show your emotions and people turn away or simply don’t get it: it’s okay, you don’t need people like that in your life. Over everything, you have to be comfortable with your own self, and if that means you’re going to cry in public, well, then it’s nobody’s business’ and unquote. I can say amen to that, bro”_

“Amen,” Steve muttered, smiling timidly. Granted, it was not that much information yet, but he liked to see Peter had grown up to be someone comfortable with his own self- or at least, it seemed like so.

“Peter seems to be wise” Wanda chirped in, smiling to the Captain. Steve nodded, without taking his eyes off of the TV in a clear way to ask for the play button to be pressed, which Sam did with a soft smile on his face.

> _“Number two: he’s a feminist! Peter has been fighting for equality since he was in high school, and even before! His Dad, Tony Stark, told E!News that Peter once went home with a split lip for getting into a fight with someone who said girls couldn’t be leaders of a Decathlon team. More recently, he turned heads around in a conference in Singapore. He was there as a part of a young geniuses program, giving talks and such. He was paired with a few other colleagues, and things were going pretty smoothly, when, in one interview he was doing with Bella Bianchi, the Italian said how she was only getting questions about style, about how she managed to be stylish yet be an intellectual. Peter openly called that ‘bullshit’ and whispered something in her ear. Next interview, all of the sexist questions were answered by him! When someone asked Bella about her outfit and who was the designer -stupid question, we know- Peter started talking about what he was wearing! And, when someone asked him about his next project, Bella answered. She then said in an interview that Peter had asked her to change their questions, in a way to make everyone realize how stupid and wrong was to ask things so far away from the subject of the conference. Reason number three: he loves_ _dogs!”_

The girl went on and on, and the team quickly learned about how Peter and Tony had adopted a puppy a few years before, who Peter named Tessa, how Peter was already working with his father while _also_ working on numerous foundations that supported a lot of great causes, how he openly talked about sexuality and how much he resented to put a label on it ( _why?_ The interviewer had said, quoting Peter, _is there such a fixation on labels and who likes who? Is that going to change your life? Is that going to change the way you think of me? ‘cause, if it’s the latter, please get out of my sight_ ), which all the team had applauded. They learned about how Peter talked endlessly about issues that mattered in the world, seeking change; how he said he was bullied when he was in high school, how he decided that just because someone didn’t like him he wasn’t going to change. Steve felt his heart growing in pride each second, because his son was just… perfect. Peter was the most noble man he could’ve imagined, and he knew Tony was behind that quite a lot (if not behind every single little thing). Finally, they got to the last two points, and number nine shook Steve’s world.

> _“Number nine: getting into the family’s business! And, no, we’re not talking about Peter already working for SI. We’re talking about, you maybe guessed, Spider-Man! Yeah, people, Peter, just like his Dad and his late Father, and family, is a superhero! He became one when he was only fourteen, and kept it a secret from his Dad for a whole year. He recalls his Dad finding out about it as the ‘worst discussion I had with my Dad, or with anyone, for that matter. My Dad and I are super close; he’s my best friend, basically, but we really, really got mad at each other that day’. He said his Dad didn’t want him to become a superhero, because they had already lost too many people, but he ultimately let Peter be Spiderman, knowing it was a part of Peter’s soul, already. He helped him and trained him, and Peter came out as Spiderman just last year. He’s part of the new team of Avengers, who just a month ago got another member. But we’ll talk more about that in other videos”_

Sam paused the video for a moment, too stunned to keep going, which was a feeling shared amongst the group. The stunned silence said enough, because everybody was kind of freaking out. Peter, what? A super-what? 

“My son is… what?” Steve weakly asked, not being able to process that bit of information His family looked at him trying to see if he was on the verge of a break down which, pretty much, he was “He’s a superhero?”

“An Avenger, too, it seems” Natasha pointed out, which didn’t help the Captain “. And since he was fourteen, Dear God”

“He managed to keep that a secret for a year, the punk. ‘Wonder how he kept it from Tony”

“Who knows, Buck” Steve sighed, trying rather desperately to come up with a plausible answer to the question of _how in the hell is Peter-_ “. But, he… do you guys think it’s because of me? Because of the serum?”

“We can always ask him when we see him again, Steve. We cannot know yet” Bruce said, smiling sweetly at the Captain. Steve sighed, nodding in acceptance. He had to do so; after all, all they were getting until returning with his boys was pieces Tony and Peter had let the public know- the blond knew there had to be many more things happening under the surface. 

“I’m glad Tony kept him out of the team for a while, though” he murmured, knowing his husband would have done everything to keep their son as safe as possible”. I don’t like the fact that he’s in there in the first place, but… at least he was over age when it happened. Sam, play the video, please. I want to finish it”

Sam nodded, trying to see if Steve was truly ready- it was a lot of information, super fast. In a way, it was like meeting someone else, but not quite yet, because that person was _Peter_. The kid they had all held at some point or another. But, the blond seemed ready to move on, so Sam obliged.

> _“Lastly, number ten, which we know it’s not as huge as the previous one, but hey: it deserves its spot. Number ten is: He openly talks about the biggest loss of his life, when he lost his Father at only seven years of age”_

“What?” The blond whispered, shocked by the news, even when they were not that surprising. He knew Peter had been hurt about the news - Fury had told him so, any sane person would think so. But to know Peter was adult and mature enough to talk about it… yeah, kind of mind-blowing. Nikita kept talking.

> _“While other people would just shut up about their losses- and we get it, truly-, Peter decided to use his to not only show strength, but also to give a more positive light to the traumatizing fact of losing a parent. Or, rather, to show a positive example of moving on while still acknowledge it- a perfect example of how it is to live with something like that in a healthy way. He explained how hard it was losing Steve, and how he got over it and decided to live with it in this interview, given just a couple of months ago”_

“Oh God, I’m going to see him” Steve muttered, realizing the video had been posted only a month ago, which would make his son’s interview two months before. And, sure, the girl had put some pics of Peter here and there, but all of them had shown him in high school, or his first year of college. And while there was a change ( _so much_ ) it was different from seeing Peter twenty years old, officially. Sam went to pause the video to give him more time to prepare himself, but the blond almost killed him with a stare, so the Falcon stopped his hand just in time, and let it play. On-screen appeared Peter in what seemed the usual room of press interviews. It was clear to everyone that Peter on-screen was already a young man: from his face to his eyes, to, well, everything: Peter had grown up, and he was already twenty. His body was no longer lanky and skinny as a branch (maybe due to being a superhero), and he was no longer wearing a shirt with trucks on it, but rather dress trousers and a short-sleeved shirt with a pattern on it, the cut of it tighten around his bicep. Long gone was his silly watch of Mickie Mouse, and in its place, one old watch that Steve would swear had belonged to Tony before. His face had definitely lost its baby fat and now Peter’s features were chiseled, with a strong jaw and those eyes Steve had sworn to love and protect since the first instant they had looked into his own. The Captain had to blink quickly to not cry at the sight of his _son_ , his _baby_ , because no matter how many years had gone by, he was still Steve’s, and still a part of him, forever “. Oh, baby boy…”

Peter seemed to have been asked a question, and he cleared his throat before answering, clearly thinking about his words before speaking.

> _“No, yeah, I can talk about it.”_ He said, smiling charmingly towards the interviewer. His voice had changed, too (duh), and Steve had a hard time, even if it was just for second-, remembering how his kid, his seven-year-old Peter, had sounded thirteen years before” _It’s been thirteen years since he passed away, you know? It’s okay. It’s healthy, I think. When my Dad gave me the news… well, I’m not gonna lie, it’s all a bit blurry. I was just seven, so things are messy in my head. I just remember my Aunt Pepper picking me up from school that day, and then my Dad in the living room. He told me Papa was not gonna come home, and why, and I just remember crying and telling my Dad how much I hated my Papa for it, and then I remember… I don’t know, being in bed a lot, crying, with my Dad by my side. I remember the ceremony a little bit, but not much. I was mostly crying on my Dad’s shoulder, anyways”_

_“You hated your father?”_ The interviewer asked, surprised. The team was surprised, too, and Steve just felt his heart breaking. His son hated him? He didn’t want to leave! He didn’t even know he had! God, why was the reason behind Peter’s erasure of his second last name? His son ran a hand through his hair then, getting one rebel curl behind his ear, and proceeded to answer the question.

> _“Oh yeah, I did,”_ he said, shrugging, just as if he was not breaking Steve’s heart “ _. I mean, it wasn’t real hate hate, you know?_ “okay, so maybe he could breathe”. _I was in shock, in denial. I didn’t know what was happening, and to me, Steve was not coming home, that’s all. He was leaving us behind, so it made ‘sense’”_ he said while making air quotes” _to hate him. I really didn’t, not to all extents, but that’s what I told my Dad for… I don’t know, six months, I think”_

_“Wow. Six months?”_ The interviewer asked, as shocked as the rest of the team felt. They knew Peter’s words made a lot of sense, but it was still hard to hear, to know the kid had gone through that much pain- enough to not make him not understand it, or his emotions. The Peter on the screen shrugged again.

> _“Yeah”_

_“And from that moment you accepted it?”_ The interviewer asked, curious as, again, the rest of them. Steve leaned further in his chair subconsciously, desperate to know himself. 

> _“I mean, not really. That’s what happens when you lose someone that close and important to you at such a young age, you know? It doesn’t stop: you don’t stop feeling like something is missing, ever. It gets harder with the years. I mean, when I was nine I hated with all of my heart being his son, you know? I wanted to be another kid”_

_“Why?”_ The man asked, and Steve kept silent, once again having visual proof of how much he’d hurt his boys without ever meaning to.

> _“Well, because it’s hard being the son of a legend. Even more so if that legend is dead, you know? My father was dead and literally everyone on Earth was trying to see if I was like him, or telling me I_ should _be like him. It was way too much pressure for a nine-year-old”_

Well, the kid was right, and everyone knew that. They had been focusing on what had happened _right after_ their disappearances that they hadn’t thought about the fact that their loved ones had had years where they had not only mourned them or learned how to live with them but also how to cope with how everyone saw them as now. 

> _“Right. How did it went away?”_
> 
> _“Thanks to my Dad, actually. One day I was doing homework on the kitchen table while he was making some dinner for us, and I remember telling him, so casually, honestly, that I hated being Steve’s son. And he just… he looked so heartbroken, it broke my own heart. He then talked to me about why people were doing it, you know? We had this talk and he told me it was okay if I decided I didn’t want to be like my Pops, but it was also okay if I accepted who my Papa was, and if I decided to live up to his legacy. Not as a superhero, that’s something I didn’t truly choose for myself, but you know, as a good man. As someone who only wants the good for the world”_

_“That sounds nice,”_ the interviewer said, and Steve couldn’t help but agree. Thank everything for Tony, because if he needed any proof, there he had it: his husband had been the best father in existence to Peter and, if the kid was as amazing as he seemed, it was thanks to Tony.

> _“Yeah, it does”_ Peter said then”. _Since that night I never thought I hated my Papa, anymore. My Dad made me realize how much he meant to me, and from that moment on I decided to turn that tragedy into something positive, as crazy as it sounds. I picked on drawing again, and I still do it, and I love it. I started charity projects that were inspired by my Pops: things that I can do, and honestly, should do. All of that without forgetting my Father, or my family, and doing everything in their honor. This way, it’s like they’re here, with us, a little bit more”_

The girl kept talking then and shortly after she ended the video, but none of the team were really seeing it anymore. All of them were touched by Peter’s words, Steve the most. It was a lot to discover, the whole freaking video but it felt good to know his son didn’t hate him anymore, that he did all of those things for him. The next video started playing then, something called “ _IronDad and SpiderSon: cutest moments_ ” and they just let it on without even realizing it, too lost in their thoughts as they were. Soon, though, Tony’s voice startled them. Steve turned his head fast to the TV, where Tony was now and… he was looking good; better than Steve could’ve imagined, as always dressed impeccably and with shades over his eyes. His hair wasn’t as grey and the blond had been expecting, but he had also expected his husband to at least dye it a bit. The date on the left top corner showed it was a video from a year before because it announced some type of festival. 

“ _So, Mister Stark, your son is turning twenty in a few months_ ” the interviewer, a girl this time, said. Tony groaned playfully, crossing one leg over the other.

> “ _Ugh, I know. He keeps telling me_ ” their favorite genius said with a playful smile, even when in it Steve could see the love and devotion Tony held for Peter, which he’d been doing since the instant Peter had been born. The interviewer laughed a little bit at his words, but kept talking.

“ _Well, it’s a pretty big number_ ” she insisted. Tony nodded, finally giving in.

> “ _It is, in fact”_

“ _What do you think about it?_ ”

> “ _My son’s birthday? Well, I think it’s a gift we’re enjoying something like that. With everything that has been going on: it’s a pleasure, truly_ ” his words were meant to be nice, that was for sure, but Steve couldn’t help but feel oddly suffocated by them. Because he _didn’t know_ everything that had been going on; it couldn’t have been his ‘death’, because that had been twelve years prior to the video, right? Or something like that. So something else had happened: something he didn’t know, nor had been able to help his boys with.

“ _Any plans?_ ” The girl in the video said, snapping Steve out of his thoughts.

> “ _Yeah, but I’m keeping them a surprise even from him, so: no telling, sorry_ ” Steve could see that now. Tony had always loved surprises, had always loved to pepper Peter with affection and attention and all the love he hadn’t felt as a kid. He could imagine Tony planning something for Peter, excited about it. But planning it alone.

“ _Okay, okay. But what can you tell us about Peter?_ ”

> “ _About Peter? Well, he’s in London right now, doing some conferences. That kid is going places, I’m telling yah. I don’t know, he… he’s just my kid, you know? He’s everything I could’ve asked for, and he really is kind of my closest friend, which I don’t know if it sounds lame or cool: who knows. But, Peter he… he’s amazing. And just… him growing up and turning into the man he’s turning into, I feel so proud. And I know his Father would feel proud, too, you know. I’d kill for my husband to see our son right now, but I know it’s not possible, so… I just hope he’s somehow seeing how amazing Peter turned out to be. I mean, it’s thanks to his genes, that’s what I’m positive of-_ “

“Stop the video,” Steve said, feeling like he couldn’t breathe, not really. “, please”

Sam did as asked, looking worriedly at Steve. He got up and started to leave, not even looking back at his teammates. He was feeling trapped, almost like he was being on that island once again. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, maybe Fury was right. Maybe he should’ve stayed away from searching for information about his boys, because now everything was crashing down in his brain. Sure, a part of him felt better now that he knew his boys were more or less okay, but to see everything that he had missed (not even everything, for Christ’s sake, only a tiny, _tiny_ bit) had made everything real. And it didn’t feel amazing per se. 

“Punk, you good?” Bucky asked, apparently having been silently elected as the spokesman of the group. Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair and thinking of every way in which he was not good at all. Of course, he knew he was lucky as well; he knew he had been given yet another chance in life, he knew things could have been much worse, but factually? He had missed his kid’s life. He had been away from Tony for thirteen years, even when, to him, it didn’t feel like it. So no. He was not okay.

“I’m sorry, this is too much” he whispered”. I can’t do this anymore, Fury… Fury was right. Finding things this personal was a mistake”

“It’s okay, Steve,” Natasha said, trying to calm him down “, let’s go to sleep, okay? It’s really late and… tomorrow is a big day”

Steve sighed and did as told, walking to his room for the night and falling into bed. He felt like sleep was not going to come soon, but his body was seemingly more exhausted than he had realized, so soon he found his eyelids dropping. His last thoughts before falling asleep were about what was going to happen next. Because, yeah. Tomorrow was going to be a huge day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, sorry, i know i left it at a bad moment... oops. anyway, PLEASE leave a comment so i know what you guys thought of the chapter!
> 
> love you all 3000, and please be safe!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve is dying to meet his boys again
> 
> but, how will they react?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! sorry for taking a while, finals are kicking my butt because, apparently, my university doesn't really care about ms.rona. well, they 'are sorry' it's happening and they feel for us, but alas, work is work. anyway, little rant over to sort of apologize for taking this long. 
> 
> i've also never posted this early in the day, but oh well, let's try it. enjoy!

“Rise and shine, motherfuckers!”

Steve groaned, turning around in the bed. His head was still hurting, and he felt more tired than he usually did. He wondered why, but quickly answered his own question: he had spent the last thirteen years under a coma, or whatever that was, so his muscles were doomed to be, at least, in some pain. Granted, he was able to move more or less okay, and so had done the rest of his teammates, but he felt exhaustion all over. Plus he was older, so it made sense. Fury’s strong voice while he woke them up was not helping, either, especially after his night of sleep. While sleep had come to him relatively easy, the sleep he’d gotten had been restless, and he felt more exhausted than before.

“Dear God, Nick, don’t yell,” Natasha said, outside of his room. The Captain sighed and got up, throwing a sweatshirt on and opening his door. Fury was about to knock again, a really annoyed Natasha behind him with her arms crossed above her chest. Steve could only guess she had been woken up the same way.

“Steve, good morning. Nick here was going to wake you up” she said, smiling as fake as possible. Steve returned the smile and looked at the director.

“Don’t worry, your yelling already did” he said, stepping out of his room while ignoring Fury’s scoff. The rest of his teammates were doing the same, all in different states os sleepiness and exhaustion.

“What hour is it? Jeez,” Clint complained, rubbing his eyes. Fury laughed at their faces, the asshole, and waited until all of them were sitting around in the living room. Steve could not bring himself to look at the TV, remembering everything he had learned the night before.

“It’s actually almost five p.m” Fury revealed, and then ( _asshole_ ) snickered at their surprised faces”. You’ve been sleeping for quite the time, Avengers”

“We got in bed pretty late” Bruce whispered, shrugging. Fury looked at him, raising an eyebrow in a silent question, even when he already suspected the reason why they had gone to bed that late (and honestly, no one to blame but him. He should’ve known better). At the shrug of the scientist, he looked at Steve, demanding an answer out of him. The blond sighed, knowing the director was not going to like his words.

“I know you wanted us to wait until today, but I had to know more about my boys” he shrugged”. So, we searched for them on the TV”

Fury sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Again, he should’ve expected it, and it was his own fault for having the TV with internet access _and telling the team_. He could understand Steve’s motives -of course he could-, but it was not what he’d wanted, not the way he’d wanted them to find about stuff.

“I should’ve expected this, especially from you” he murmured “. But I am not pleased with this, you idiots. Now, tell me, are you happy with what you’ve found?”

“We didn’t find that much” Steve confessed, almost feeling like a child who was being scolded for doing something wrong. 

“Oh, how so?” Fury asked, crossing his arms across his chest. Oh, and he knew. He knew Steve well enough to know the Captain must’ve felt overwhelmed (understandingly so), even if he had only watched one, or two videos.

“I… it was too hard for me. We had to stop” Steve confessed again, only confirming Fury’s suspicion. 

“I see.” Fury nodded “. You see, guys, this is why I didn’t want you looking at things. The world has changed in ways you can’t imagine. Steve, your husband and son have changed, and there’s no point denying that. It’s been thirteen years for us, and Peter has grown up during these years. We haven’t told you even a minimal part of everything that has happened because we figured it’d be a shock. For you to find out via the Internet… can be quite shocking, and extremely irresponsible. What did you see?”

“A video about why Peter is the role model the generation needs,” Natasha said, answering for Steve when she saw the blond almost too exhausted to answer. Fury snickered under his breath, remembering that video in particular.

“Oh my God, I’ve seen that video, too” he laughed”. Tony called me to watch it with him and Peter to make fun of Junior. He was blushing the entire time”

“Well, then you know what we know, now,” Steve said, crossing his arms across his chest. He recollected two more pieces of information: one, his son seemed to be at least a little bit shy, just like what he’d been as a kid, and two, Fury and Tony were close “. Fury, a superhero at fourteen? An Avenger _just_ when he was off age?”

Fury sighed, nodding. He knew Steve was not going to like that bit of information. Hell, when _he_ found out he didn’t totally like it. Not like, looking back, he should have not expected anything better; he knew who the kid’s parents were, he knew Peter becoming a superhero was something they should all seen coming. He had also expected Tony to be more open to the idea- in fact, he had always thought Steve would be the one to say absolutely not, but the engineer surprised him with his reaction. He _despised_ the idea, hated it with all his being. Fury took a little to understand, but quickly enough, he did: Tony hated the idea because his whole family had disappeared in a mission, being _superheroes_. Granted, the genius was still working as one, but to have his son, his fifteen (at the time) year old son turn into one? Yep, not good. He guessed it was the same for Steve, even when Peter was currently twenty. 

“Rogers, look, that was something no one saw coming. And when Tony found out about it…it wasn’t pretty, at all. Peter and he had a huge argument, and they were in bad terms for a little while. Tony wanted to stop Peter from being a vigilante, and Peter wanted Tony to see he was meant to be Spider-Man. In the end Tony understood Spidey was a part of Peter’s being and he accepted it. With conditions and rules, sure, but he did”

“And the Avenger part?” Bruce asked. He couldn’t fathom Tony and Peter being in bad terms; no one could, really. Probably because the last time they had seen Peter he’d been too little to be in bad terms with anyone, but still: Tony and he were always close, had always adored each other, and the team would only guess that bond had become tighter after everything they had to go through together. To hear they had been in bad terms for a while was a bit heartbreaking. 

“Look, the kid is… he’s good. So, so good” Fury said, sighing. Again, he should have expected Peter to be the best hero he could be. That kid was just… Peter “. Tony and I talked, and neither of us liked the idea of Peter being an Avenger, but… we need him. He’s powerful, Steve”

“How powerful are we talking about?” Bruce asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, he… we think he may be stronger than the Super Soldiers. So, super strength, enhanced abilities, super speed, can stick to things, he has a weird spidey sense… the list goes on. And he still can develop even more. Plus, he has Tony’s brains. He’s seriously smart, a fucking _genius_ , and” he added, looking at Steve “, he has your strategy skills. It still surprises me how quickly he can just elaborate on a plan and get it to work. As much as Tony and I hated the idea, the world needed Peter. Still does, as much as ever”

Steve sighed, still not liking the idea, but understanding Fury’s point. He could not picture the kid he had known with this new Peter, the new adult Peter, the one who was a superhero and a businessman (almost), the one who went by Stark… but it was still his son, still the person he loved the most in the entire world. That was never going to change.

“Okay. I don’t like this, but I can understand the reasoning behind” he sighed, knowing it was too late to complain anyway. 

Fury nodded towards him smiling gently in an attempt to try to calm him down a bit. Then, he rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it a bit to show silent support.

“Captain, I know this is hard. And I’m sorry. I’m sure I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through. What you’re all going through” he said, looking at everyone in the room “. However… may I ask something important?”

“Sure, Nick”

“Well, if you guys are ready already… would you like to go back to the Tower?”

Steve’s head snapped up to look at the director. Fury was smiling from ear to ear, a spark of joy in his eyes. The blond could feel his teammates getting excited at the idea of meeting Tony and Peter again, and he felt himself almost combusting at the sole idea of hugging his husband and their son, again.

“Yes” he immediately said “Please, yes”

Fury nodded, smiling wider -how, Steve didn’t even know- and started to walk out of there. The team followed him like little ducks follow their mom, and Steve knew it’d been a funny image to look out from the outside. However, he didn’t care about how funny it could look. He was seeing Tony and Peter again! And sure, to him it had been… well, not even two weeks (“ _The mission is not going to be that long, only a couple of weeks, right?_ ”), but for his family, it had been _thirteen years_. And he was starting to feel like it had been since forever, too, especially after seeing his son and husband on Youtube, seeing how grown-up Peter was and how well age was suiting Tony, and after learning of just a tiny bit of what had been happening in his absence. They all followed Fury out of the room then, and the director made them change into something more appropriate. Then he took them to the garage and went to the largest van so they could all fit in, just like they were doing a school trip. Steve took shotgun, wanting to, maybe, calm down a little bit before reuniting with the loves of his life. Also, the moment he sat he remembered he still had to know something crucial, something that he _needed_ to know to act accordingly. So, not even two minutes into the ride and when he had found the right (hopefully) phrasing of his question, Steve cleared his throat, gaining Fury’s attention. The spy only looked at him sideways, but that was enough confirmation for the blond: he had his director’s attention.

“Nick, I just had to ask… is Tony remarried?” The Captain asked, more nervous than he had even anticipated”. Like, did he met someone after I disappeared?”

“Would you be okay if I told you it happened?” Fury asked back, not even glancing at him. Steve found himself opening his mouth like a fish, not expecting that answer. Would he? Well… of course.

“I… yes. Even when I don’t feel like it, I was gone for thirteen years, Nick. And Tony was left alone, and he had to raise our son. It wouldn’t be fair for me to expect him to just… I don’t know, not try to find happiness again. I mean, I’d love to be with him again, to still be married to him, but I’ll respect if he has someone else. Now… does he?”

The car was unusually silent, and Steve knew the rest of his teammates were listening to the conversation. He couldn’t blame them: it was going to be weird if they showed up and Tony was with a new husband, or something like that. Weird, and heartbreaking. And, sure, Tony had never mentioned something about a husband in the information they had searched (granted, it’d been a couple of articles and a short clip, but still: he had referred to Steve as his husband, right?), and Peter hadn’t mentioned anything about a step-father either, but it was still possible. Fury sighed, snapping Steve out of his thoughts, and shook his head. The movement calmed the blond down more than he was willing to admit.

“Tony never remarried” the director murmured”. He didn’t even try. Although Captain, we all tried to get him back in the market, you know? I tried to talk to him, get him in some blind dates, or something like that. Even Peter has told him to try and date somebody”

“Has he?” Steve asked, hurt again. He wanted to believe his son loved him, but all the proof was just tearing him down. Peter choosing to go just by Stark and then wanting Tony to date other people… sure, he was glad his husband hadn’t done so, as much as he knew that feeling was selfish, but… he kind of had hoped for Peter to be against a new love in his Dad’s life. God, and wasn’t that messed up.

“Tony’s his Dad, Captain” Fury told him in a deadpan tone “. And he has given everything for him, to raise him and love him as best as he could in the circumstances he was in. Peter is really grateful and just wants Tony to be happy, especially now that he’s growing up and becoming a really independent person. And that happiness? It had to be without you. At least until yesterday, when you guys suddenly reappeared”

“Do you think Tony will take me back?” He asked, really scared of the answer. Sure, he hadn’t done anything bad, but… he had left, and that was a fact. He hadn’t meant to, he hadn’t wanted to, but… he had left. And, now that he thought about it, Peter’s reasoning was logical, even when it didn’t make it any less scary (for Steve’s feelings, at least). Fury shot a quick look at him, smiling gently. It was kind of freaking Steve out, all that Fury smiling and with good humor. 

“Captain I can’t say for sure, because no one truly knows what goes through that mind. Maybe Peter, but he has a mind that sometimes is even worse. He’s unpredictable, the youngster he is… that said, I think Tony will be the happiest man in the world once he finds out about you being alive. He has missed you so, so much”

Steve smiled and looked at his lap, trying to hide his blushing. God, he couldn’t wait to hug his husband again. And, no matter how many years had gone by: his love for the engineer was still there, burning him from inside out. Fury was right: Tony was unpredictable, just like the sea; always moving to his own rhythm, always doing the opposite of what you expected from him… so, there was no telling at to what he was going to do at the sight of the team, but hopefully, something good. 

If he had to be completely honest… Steve was more worried about Peter. Because yeah, sure, Peter could love him (or at least, he hoped so), but really? As time went by, and as he thought over and over about it, Steve realized Peter had to have some memories of him, but not that many. He had disappeared when Peter was seven, and had been gone for more than half the life of the kid. Technically speaking, he’d been gone for almost two thirds, which was a pretty big number. So, how much did Peter _know_ him, and how much did Peter know the persona Tony and everyone else told him about? It was scary to think about, to think about his son not thinking about him as his ‘true father’ or whatever, to think Peter could have him in his mind as the dude that was married to his father and had acted as so to him for the first seven years of his life. The blond knew he was not thinking rationally, but he was _terrified_. He was terrified of going to meet a stranger that wanted to do nothing with him. It was an overwhelming and terrifying feeling to have.

They arrived at the Tower almost two hours later, and just like the day before Fury took them to the most isolated part of the underground at the Tower. The team didn’t even complain, choosing to get into the elevator and go with the flow- it’d get them faster to Tony and Peter anyway. However, they didn’t go into the normal elevator, the one who would open inside the penthouse already, and that was weird, because Fury chose to ride the one the employees did. 

“Why are we in this elevator?” Clint asked, kind of annoyed. He understood precautions, but c’mon. He wanted to arrive there already.

“Because it’s going to be a shock seeing you here and alive after thirteen years, Barton” Fury tried to explain “, so let’s not scare the life out of the habitants of this Tower, alright?”

The team sighed, but nodded when they realized Fury was annoyingly right. Steve looked at the ceiling and briefly thought about talking to JARVIS. He quickly decided not to, because, as much as he had missed the AI too, he knew he’d alert Tony of their presence, and they wouldn’t be totally okay - the last thing they needed was the engineer freaking out before time, or before real confirmation. Just a couple of floors below the Penthouse, however, Fury cursed and stopped the elevator.

“Any problems, Nick?” Steve asked, worried. He was so close to his family: he had to go with them, to tell them he hadn’t wantedto leave. He was so close he could almost touch it now.

“No, everything's okay. It’s just, I have to go somewhere, some idiot can’t do their job. It’ll be a minute, but I don’t want you guys roaming around, and I guess you can take it from here if you promise to not be too stupid. Can I trust you and let you go on on your own?”

“Yes,” Steve said, nodding almost too fast”, don’t worry. I think we got it from here”

“And?” Fury asked, raising an eyebrow. Steve rolled his eyes, but still answered the man.

“And we won’t do anything stupid, Fury”

“Alright,” Fury said, stepping out of the elevator. He turned around to look at them once more “. I’ll come by once I’m done, hopefully, everything will be alright by then. I’ll see you guys later”

The team nodded and looked as Fury turned around once more and left. The doors closed again and they rode the elevator silently until they were in the entrance of the Penthouse, and then gathered before the door. Steve, naturally, ended up in front of the little group.

“So I just… knock?” He asked, shy. He didn’t know why he was, all of the sudden, feeling that paralyzing fear, but there it was, present as ever. He had no reason to, right? Things were going to be okay… right?

“That’s the plan, yeah,” Bucky said from behind, resting a comforting hand on the blond’s shoulder and squeezing it for a second before letting it fall back to his side. Steve merely nodded, but found himself just staring at the door, unable to move. After a couple of minutes, Thor clapped a hand on his shoulder, startling him.

“My friend, I think knocking on the door is the most effective way for someone to notice you, and we kind of have been waiting in here for a while. So, if you will”

“Of course, I’m just… I’m nervous” Steve murmured, still staring at the door “. What if they hate me? What if Peter wants nothing to do with me? What if-?”

“There’s no point in asking those questions “. Natasha interrupted him “. It’s normal to feel nervous, but it’ll better if you do just knock already. Believe me, everything will be fine, and no one will hate you. Especially Peter”

Steve sighed, realizing Natasha was possibly (hopefully) right, and then nodded. He knocked softly on the door, and they immediately heard the barfs of some dog -Tessa, Steve reminded himself, now they had a dog named Tessa-, and some footsteps.

“Peter, go answer the door!” They heard, and Steve’s heart stopped when he realized that was his husband’s voice calling for their son, which meant: they both were in the house. Sure, he had guessed they were in there if Nick was choosing to take them to the Tower. But hearing Tony’s voice made it more real: he was there. And his desire, his _need_ to reunite with his boys was as big as ever “Tessa, stop it already!”

“Dad, just pet her and let her do. She’s happy when she barfs: it gives her peace” another voice said, and: Peter. That was Peter. He sounded slightly different than in the interviews, more relaxed and not as formal, which they guessed was normal. But then again, it put things into perspective. Peter was a man now, and not a seven-year-old kid anymore. There was no dreaming: that was their reality. 

“Oh, that’s nice, yeah. Who gives _me_ peace?” Tony talked back. Pete laughed at his father and, unbeknownst to him, made his other father shake with anticipation to have him back in his arms.

“Oh, dear father, that’s the most complicated question a soul should ask”

“That’s nice, kid. Is it Shakespeare?”

“Peter’s”

“Better yet. Can you please open the goddamn door?”

“Okay, Jesus, I’m going to. Coming, sorry for making you wait!”

Steve suddenly remembered to breathe. The banter between Peter and Tony had been quite interesting, and the teenager had reminded him of his husband almost way too much. If he didn’t know better he’d said he had just heard his husband talking to, well, himself. The easiness of their banter, albeit short, only told Steve what he knew: first, Peter was big enough to do that now, and second, Tony and he were close. He didn’t know this new Peter quite yet, but he was willing to bet the young man was a copycat of Tony.And then, just when he was about to knock again, the door opened, and… Peter was there, in front of him, twenty years old and _real_.

He was wearing some comfy clothes, dressed in sweatpants and a MIT sweatshirt (that, for the looks of it, could’ve been Tony’s). His hair was messy with unruly curls, yet stylish -something Steve knew had come from Tony- and his posture was relaxed when he had opened the door. However, the moment he saw them, he tensed. His eyes went almost comically big and he opened his mouth, surprised. He looked at all of them, for one, two, way too many seconds, and then closed his mouth and, without even taking his eyes off them, yelled:

Peter was actually having a good day. He had gone for a walk with Ned and Michelle in the morning, talking about their time in high-school, their colleges: stuff like that. Michelle had gone to Columbia, and Ned MIT, but he had gone to visit his parents because his cousin was getting married. As for Peter, he was done with MIT. And, sure, some may think he was way too young to just end college already. And, yeah, he kind of was. But, he wanted to be in NY: he wanted to help the people from there, he wanted to start working already and, most importantly: he didn’t want his father alone. He had had a pretty normal high-school life, but college was different. With him coming out as Spiderman -totally not an accident, of course-, his private life was next to non-existent. So, it made sense to finish his degree and move back to NY. Plus, he was working on his doctorates (yes, plural, sue him. His Dad had an influence on him way too big), and he was doing it with the company of some of the best intellectuals in the world! And he had his father there, too, which was pretty awesome (not only because Tony was one of the most intelligent people alive, but also because he had always loved working with his father). He was happy with his decisions.

That doesn’t mean he wasn’t stressing himself out, of course. It was almost in his nature, or at least his Dad told him so. _You literally stress for everything, Peter. That’s not healthy_. Of course, Peter could’ve decided to stop, or slow it down. Sure, he could’ve. 

Thing is: he didn’t want to. He was happy like that, he was content with how things were. Sure, he had a lot of work: between his academic life, his work at SI -which he wouldn’t give up for the world-, his charity projects, and with Spider-Man… he didn’t know how he managed to even breathe, sometimes. But, boy… did he love it. Something that had mainly started in honor of his Dad had become his passion -other than science, Spidey, and taking pics, of course-. Peter was happy with his life. However, a break was needed every once in a while, so he had happily gone with his friends to one of their favorite spots in Hell’s Kitchen and sat next to MJ, Ned in front of them.

“God, I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in forever” Ned complained, drinking the last of his soda. MJ and Peter laughed at him, ignoring the shorter of the three flipping the bird at them in response “. I’m serious! Now that Peter’s done with MIT you two see each other all the time, but me? I’m still there. I miss you guys”

“Aw, c’mon” Peter cooed, trying to placate his best friend “. You’ll be done before you know it and you’ll be back in New York-”

“Most likely complaining about missing college life” Michelle said knowingly. Ned blushed and resumed to drink his empty soda, trying to get through some of the ice “. But honestly, I’ve missed this”

“Yeah, me too” Peter sighed.

“Oh, don’t complain, you two see each other all the time,” Ned said, keeping with his lament. Peter and Michelle exchanged a look and rolled their eyes at their friend. 

“You’re being a drama queen,” the superhero of the three said. Ned scoffed at him, stopping to play with his soda.

“Like you’re the one to talk”

“Hey!” Peter started to protest, but Michelle’s laugh stopped him and he turned his head to look at her. The girl had a look in her face that clearly told Peter he was fooling no one, and Peter couldn’t help but disagree, even though he knew both, MJ and Ned, could see through his bullshit in a second, especially MJ, with that radar for bullshit she had always seemed to have.

“P, he has a point, don’t even try to deny it,” she said, amused. Peter whined, not bothering to not pretend he wasn’t being childish, and let his head fall onto the table, purring happily when Michelle pet his head, ignoring Ned’s laugh. It felt good to joke around and be a bit more like a kid, and it was something that he could only do with them and with his father, or with Shuri on those occasions, they saw each other “. But he’s right Ned, you’re being a drama queen. I guess I’m the only normal here”

The look the other two shot her was enough to make her roll her eyes, even though she didn’t say anything else - they were, _maybe_ , kind of right. But still: she was the less drama queen of the three of them. Peter still took the cake. Speaking of Peter…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Peter asked, suspicious. Michelle asked an eyebrow in response, which quickly told Peter everything he had needed to know “. Aw, c’mon, no”

“No, what?” Ned chirped in “. Stop communicating with your eyes, guys, it gets annoying”

“We’re not doing that,” both of them said at the same time. Ned scoffed at them, asking for a new soda before answering.

“My ass you’re not. Uh, are you dating again? Like, officially I mean, because I know you two do casual way too well”

Michelle and Peter looked at Ned with their best stares. To give the guy some credit, Peter and MJ had indeed dated during the last year and a half of high-school, and almost the first one of college. But then it had turned into something serious _serious_ , and they were both in college, and the press was always there… it had made sense to put a stop. Now that Peter was living in New York again, however, things had changed. Sure, they had told each other they were just friends, but factually, they were indeed casually dating. Not super serious, or rather, not like they were telling Ned it was something serious. Besides, it wasn’t, not really. 

“We’re not,” Peter said “. It’s nothing serious, we just like spending time together”

“Right” Ned murmured, his shipping heartbreaking a little. Sure, he knew this was the healthiest thing for them, at least at that moment, but he wanted his two best friends together! He knew part of the problem was Peter’s idea of compromise and love and all that which had to do all with losing Steve when he was seven. Ned, and deep down Michelle too, were convinced that seeing his Dad as heartbroken as he’d been had influenced Peter and made him a bit scared of falling in love that deeply. Understandable, sure, but something that had to change at some point “. Anyway, what is it if it is not that?”

“Let Peter tell you,” Michelle said, not even bothering to hide her laugh when Peter stared at her “. Oh, don’t look at me like that. This is your own fault, I told you not to do it”

“Oh! Wait, I know” Ned laughed, not giving Peter a chance to tell whatever Michelle wanted”. You’ve been trying to set up your Dad again, right?”

“Bingo” Michelle exclaimed, snapping his fingers towards Ned. The shorter man clapped his hands in victory and bowed to a non-existent crowd, ignoring his best friend flipping him the bird this time around. 

“It’s not like that. I’m subtle”

“Honey, you’re as subtle as a wrecking ball in the middle of the night” Michelle scoffed. Peter tried to shot her a stare, but honestly… she kinda had a point. For being a professional superhero, Peter sucked at being subtle.

“Who was it this time?” Ned asked, curious. To be frank, both Michelle and he had tried to stop Peter from setting Tony up with guys, both knowing the genius wasn’t looking for a relationship, but it had been pointless. Peter was more stubborn than the two of them combined, and Tony just seemed to shrug off every attempt his kid made, not even bothering to go on a date “. Was it Doctor Strange? I like him, he’s nice”

“He’s a bit of an asshole sometimes” Michelle pointed out. 

“Exactly! But also super nice… kinda like Tony”

“In my Dad’s defense: thanks. And no, it wasn’t him” Peter sighed “, it was just a guy we usually do some business with. He’s a couple of years older than Dad, and a _super_ nice guy. They like the same type of movies and root for the same sports team. Dad, however, ignored me the entire time I was talking about him”

“I was there” Michelle chirped in “. It was hilarious, Tony kept talking to me through a recipe and didn’t acknowledge Peter at all”

“One day he’ll cave in though, you guys will see,” Peter said, still stubborn as ever. His two best friends sighed and shared a look, knowing the young genius only wanted the best for his father, but still believing it was more of like Peter trying to make sure Tony was going to be happy without him.

“Honey, your Dad is not ready” Michelle reminded him “. You have to understand that, we’ve told you thousands of times”

“I know that” Peter nodded “. But it’s not like he’s betraying Papa’s memories, you know? C’mon, Papa would’ve wanted him to move on, to be happy, to just… be himself again”

“Peter” Ned and Michelle murmured, but Peter ignored them, playing with his straw.

“It’s been thirteen years. Do you know what that means? That means he’s been mourning him longer than they were together for. He’s been mourning my father for more than half of my existence. And, _fuck_ , in a perfect world I’d invent time travel and tell my father to not go into that stupid mission, but I _can’t_. Shuri and I looked it up. I can’t, and as much as I wish Papa was still here… he’s not”

“We know that, dude, and you know we’re sorry”

“I know you are, Ned. But the thing is… Dad has given everything to make sure _I_ was raised as a happy kid, even when my other parent was gone. He… he deserves the world, and he deserves to be happy again. Ever since Papa left, I… I just haven’t seen the same smile in his eyes, the same spark. I miss it”

“P, your Papa was the love of Tony’s life,” Michelle said, bringing her hand to go through Peter’s hair “. And when you love someone as much as they love each other… losing them is like losing half of you”

“I know” Peter murmured “. Believe me, I know. But if Dad met someone, then maybe-”

“Maybe” Michelle compromised “. But maybe not. And besides, if you force him into the relationship nothing will happen, other than Tony not falling genuinely in love. If something has to happen, it’ll happen. But don’t force it”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right” Peter sighed “. Thanks, M. Thanks, Ned”

“Don’t mention it” Ned shrugged “. What are best friends for if it’s not this?”

Peter agreed and, fortunately for him, his friends did change the topic, choosing to talk about the wedding Ned was most likely going to be late for that same day. They spent the next couple of hours trying to forget about his problems, being the good friends they had been since high-school (Ned and Peter even before that)

So, Peter was having a good day _off._ The plan was to enjoy, to not do anything: to just… well, relax. Of course, because he was _Peter,_ he didn’t do that. After his lunch with his best friends, he went back to the Penthouse and started reading, notebook beside his physics book and pencil case in front of him. When his Dad had walked in, around four p.m, he had rolled his eyes at Peter. 

Deciding to annoy his only child, he had taken a seat just next to him, Tessa quickly laying between them. Tony scratched her head absently, and Peter tried not to smile: he knew Tony had had his doubts when they had adopted Tessa, but now he adored her. 

“You know, kid, you told me yesterday this was your day off”

“It is” Peter mumbled, writing something down in his notebook. Tony frowned and nudged his son’s shoulder, not wanting to grant him peace just yet.

“Well, then that looks terrifyingly like work” he stated. Peter hummed, ignoring his Dad’s attempts to distract him.

“It’s not work: it’s stuff I’m looking at for my PhD”

“That’s work” Tony pointed out, arching an eyebrow.

“It’s not. It’s fun!” His son exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. The oldest genius groaned, looking at him with a mix of pure desperation and resignation written all over his face.

“I had a slightly different idea than you had with the concept of fun when I was your age, you know”

“That’s only because you’re old, Dad” Peter murmured, smiling when he heard his Dad scoff.

“Oh my God, we have a comedian. Ha, ha”

Peter smiled at him innocently, and then went back to the book, starting to pet Tessa, too, the dog stayed quiet all the while, too happy to move.

“I know you want me to do something more fun, but Michelle had to go to visit her grandma, and Ned had this family wedding after our lunch… this sounded like a good plan to spend the evening”

“I mean, it’s not bad” Tony admitted, knowing he was the first person who chose work before sleep “, but you should relax. Maybe we can do something together, like watch a movie or play a video game. actually, movie sounds better. I’m tired of you beating me in everything we play, so… What do you say?”

“It sounds really good, actually” Peter admitted, realizing how sore his muscles were starting to feel from being in the same position for that long. He closed his notebook and sat closer to his father, who was beaming at him.

“See? I have the best ideas” Tony smiled, drawing his kid closer to him and kissing the top of his head. Peter rolled his eyes, albeit smiling and let his Dad put on some old movie they both loved. They ended up seeing one of Steve’s favorite, both of them knowing the dialogue by heart. Still, even when they had memorized the movie they loved to watch it: it reminded them of Steve and, in a certain way, it helped them to be closer to the blond. When the movie was done, though, the peace they were feeling was broken by the doorbell ringing. It was weird for someone to knock: a few people went to their personal home, and really, really few did so without them knowing beforehand. So it was weird… still, Tony told Peter to open the door, and when he did…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am i cruel for leaving the chapter here? oh yeah, you can bet i am. but what can i say, i love a good cliffhanger.
> 
> i'll try to get the next chapter asap, but i can't promise anything. as i'm sure you all know, uni has to come first. but please, leave a comment so i know what you thought of this chapter, and maybe of the story overall!
> 
> you're all the best!
> 
> love y'all 3000!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is it
> 
> How will Tony and Peter react to the news? Will it be a disaster... or everything they had ever dreamed of?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii! so, i promised the next chapter was going to be up this week, and here we are!
> 
> i hope you guys enjoy it... the big moment has come!

“Hey, Dad, remember last week’s mission, when I accidentally breathed that gas?” Peter yelled to the inside of the house, without taking his eyes off of them. His gaze was almost analytical, Steve realized, no longer than sweet and innocent look he had had when he’d been a kid. God, it was so weird to look at Peter’s face, to realize his kid was truly twenty and, currently, incredibly pale. The blond wondered what could be going through his mind- that he had seen ghosts, probably.

“Yeah?” Tony’s voice came from inside, him nowhere to be seen. Steve’s stomach flipped again at the sound of his husband’s voice without the door as a barrier. Peter cleared his throat, still not taking his eyes off of them, and yelled back.

“Well, I think it affected me more than we initially thought…” he said. There was silence then. Peter kept looking at them, barely blinking, at Steve and the rest of the team were in too much shock to even say something to the kid. Also, the Captain of the team was trying to process the ‘breathing gas’ part. And then…

“What in the actual the fuck, Peter?” Tony said, sounding exasperated. And he was. because, sure, he remembered the mission, and how _mad_ he had been when he’d realized his son was being reckless, _again_. But, Stephen had told him Peter was more than fine, and doctor Cho had just confirmed the former doctor’s words, so he’d been kind of forced to calm down. Plus, it was _super_ hard to stay mad at Peter, especially if he attacked you with those puppy eyes of his. Seriously, Tony should’ve never, ever, taught him how to use them, it had been one of his greatest mistakes. But, oh well, he was trying to get Peter on his side this one time Steve and he was arguing, and look at him now, receiving a direct _fuck you_ from Karma herself. Still, he decided to check what the hell was going on, and if the dumbass he had for a son really needed help. So, sighing, and hoping Peter was actually okay, he went to the door and then stopped dead in his track, feeling like he had just been punched in the face with a fist made of ice. 

Steve opened his mouth at the sight of his husband. Tony was beautiful, dressed in some jeans and a sweater, looking comfy. His hair was just like Peter’s, a little bit messy with his unruly curls, but still stylish. He had a look of pure shock on his face, but it quickly changed. His features hardened, and he seemed… mad? Oh no.

“Kid, get behind me, now,” he said, voice serious and no leaving room for questions. Steve felt like he’d been kicked, like someone was trying to get at him, once again. Why was Tony mad? Oh God, did he actually hate him?

“But, Dad-“ Peter tried to protest, looking back at his father for a second and then back to them, like was not trusting them at all and needed to be looking at them at all times. Or, maybe (rather) because he couldn’t believe his eyes, nor the fact that he was seeing his family after thirteen years… or, well, whatever the hell those people were. Because they could be…? no, right?

“Peter, now,” Tony said again, this time with an even more serious tone. He could understand Peter’s shock (damn him if he wasn’t feeling it as well), but his immediate first priority was to protect Peter, and that included getting him out of the line of fire, or between the strangers and him

Peter finally complied (thank goodness) and went to stand behind his father. Tony still looked tense, eyes never leaving the group by the door, but he was looking a little bit calmer having his son right behind him, kind of safe from everything happening. He looked at the group in front of them with his eyebrows furrowed: ghosts, that’s what they were. What he breathed that gas as well? No, he couldn’t recall doing so, and FRIDAY would’ve told him. Still, is husband was there, looking even more beautiful than Tony remembered; his blond hair, his sparkling blue eyes, his sharp yet beautiful features, his body, his whole being. His _Steve_. 

The genius had to remind himself there were other people, and they looked like the team that had disappeared, all those years ago. Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Sam, Bucky, Thor, and Wanda…They were all there, staring at him.Tony felt his whole self shaking, and his legs felt like jello. Still, he knew he had to hold it together for Peter’s sake. His son was there, and he had to protect him, no matter what- even if he had to fight the face of one of the persons he’d loved the most.

“I don’t know who you are,” he said after a moment of gathering the courage to do so, feeling proud of himself for being able to talk without crying “, but this is a new level of fucked up”

“Tony” Steve -no, scratch that, fake Steve-, said, voice shaking and sincerity in it… maybe too much for Tony’s liking. It couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t“, Tony, sweetheart, it’s us. We’re not fake, it’s us, truly”

“Sir, my husband died thirteen years ago. I don’t know who you’re pretending to be, nor how you managed to look like this, but I’m warning you: you’re not getting a foot inside this house” Tony said, still refusing to believe any lies. Fake Steve sounded exactly like his husband, too, and even Peter seemed to recognize the voice of his late father (if the gasp Tony had heard was anything to go by), which was not making things any easier. God, this was supposed to be their day off, why couldn’t they just have _one_ simple day off? He wasn’t asking for that much, was he?

“Tony, please...” Steve tried, trying to step inside his house and get closer to his boys. Tony, to his and all of the team’s surprise raised his hand, and the Iron Man gauntlet formed around it out of nothing. Just then, Steve realized his husband had a faint light coming out from his chest, and his world fell. Why had Tony the arc reactor again? What had happened? Had he been hurt, had his heart failed? Fury hadn’t told him a thing about a new arc reactor.

“I swear to Science, not one more step. I don’t know what you are, but I’m not afraid of firing” Tony threatened them then, hostility just pouring out of his voice. Peter looked between his Dad and the team, and then gently touched his father’s shoulder. 

“I’ll call Strange,” the young genius said, breaking what Steve had been hoping for- maybe a plea for his Dad to listen to them, maybe the suggestion to call Fury. The engineer nodded at his son’s words and Peter quickly disappeared into the house, looking as shaken up as his Dad. Steve just wanted to reach out, to assure his son he didn’t mean any harm and had only wanted to come home. He couldn’t though- Peter remained inside the house, and Tony didn’t move from his defensive posture. Soon enough, however, an orange portal appeared right next to Tony. Steve wanted to yell, to alert his husband of it, but the genius actually seemed to relax now that it was there, his body not as tense as a moment before.

A man stepped out of the portal after a few seconds. He was tall, or well, taller than Tony at least with sharp features and eyes light and calculating. A similar facial hair to Tony was on his face. He looked worried, not even giving them a glance and instead of looking at Tony in search of any damage. 

“Tony, what’s going on? Peter called, said there was a really urgent situation and... oh” he said, finally realizing Steve and the team were there. Tony was still looking at them, and Peter soon re-appeared, going to stand between Tony and the new guy. He looked relieved when he saw him, and Steve felt jealously growing in his chest instantly. He was supposed to calm down Peter, not scare him, he was his Papa, and not that guy. Then again, he thought, he hadn’t been there in thirteen years, being his will or not. He couldn’t really blame Peter for leaning on someone else, for trying to find what he’d been missing. It’d suck, but it was only fair. 

“They just knocked at our door, Doc,” Peter said, breaking the tense silence that had formed. He still sounded shocked, and nervous, but there was more control in his voice now“, we don’t know what they want or who they are”

“But they look...”

“Yeah” Tony grumbled, hand still raised and a murderous look in his eyes” we know how they look”

“Tony, it’s us” Natasha said then, quickly deciding she had to take control. Steve seemed to be in too much shock- understandable, of course-, and Tony was not accepting the facts... she could understand that, too. No one knew what Tony had gone through, not everything he had to live through after they had disappeared, not even Peter, for as Natasha was sure Tony had kept things from in an attempt to protect his kid’s innocence. However, as much as she could understand that, she also knew it was time to clear things up and make sure Tony understood it was really them “. Look, we know... we know you guys think we’re dead. And we know we disappeared more than thirteen years ago, but you have to hear us out. We were attacked during our mission. We thought we’d won but then the villain turned his place into a maze of traps. We were taken down, but we didn’t die. We just fell unconscious, and then... when we woke up, thirteen years had gone by”

Tony scoffed at them then, on the edge of a fit of a hysterical laugh. Of _all_ the things the idiot could’ve come up with, that was it? Dear God. 

“You want me to believe you spent thirteen years sleeping? Like in a coma? Yeah, not a chance. How were you guys asleep for that long? How did that asshole manage to keep you guys alive? How did we never find out, even after thousands of searches, huh? Thor’s supposed to be a God. _A God_ , lady. Tell me: how is it possible?”

“We don’t know, doll” Steve finally said, knowing he had to convince his husband it was really them, no matter what. Peter seemed to believe whatever his Dad believed, almost following him like a lost puppy, so the key was to make Tony believe him “. When we woke up we found the guy dead, we couldn’t ask him-“

“Or beat the shit outta him” Clint scoffed. Steve tried to ignore him, and kept going, noticing a small change in Tony’s demeanor. He didn’t know if it was because of his story, or if it was because seeing him (and hearing him) after thirteen years was, maybe, too much. 

“We called Fury and only when we talked to him we discovered what had happened and how much time had gone by. Please, honey, you have to believe me. Us. Peter, Bambi…” the blond pleaded. He should’ve stopped Fury from leaving them alone- surely the director of SHIELD would’ve helped them and made it all easier.

“Don’t” Tony whispered then, voice finally breaking. Peter seemed to start to believe the Captain's words, too, his posture more relaxed and looking at him with a mix of hope and doubt and so much fear it broke Steve’s heart once again. Tony started to put down his hand, and then... a robot came through the wall. 

“What...?” He heard Bruce ask, behind him. Tony looked at the robot, but he didn’t seem scared. In fact, when he saw him (him?), he seemed relieved. Between that and the orange portal, Steve was starting to ask himself what the hell was going on in his husband’s life, really. 

“Vision, thanks to physics you came, buddy” the genius exclaimed, a ghost of a smile in his face at the sight of Vision.

“Of course, Tony. Do you need anything?” The robot _spoke_ , and Steve and the rest were quite shocked to hear JARVIS’ voice coming from him

“JARVIS…?” The blond whispered. Tony looked at him briefly, doubt crossing his features for a moment before looking back at Vision.

“Actually, I do. Listen, we… we have some, er, _visitors._ They’re saying they’re our family, the one who died years ago. So tell me who they truly are, please, so we can put all of this behind us and send these assholes to jail”

Vision nodded, and then looked at them. Steve kept his gaze on Tony to try to tell him he was no lying asshole, that he was telling the truth , but the engineer wasn’t looking back at him, instead choosing to look at Vision. Peter was looking at the robot too, and Steve just wanted to be believed, wanted to hug his boys again, for God’s sake. It was torture to have them so near him, but yet so far away.

Vision scanned them all with his eyes, and then, after a few tense moments, he opened his mouth in shock (could a robot feel shocked? Steve asked himself. Well, if Tony had built him, then probably…). He looked at Tony, who, once again, was looking like he himself had some doubts about it all. Steve could almost see the battle going on in his head, and the need to deny the truth to protect himself from any further damage.

“Tony, they are… they are actually who they say they are. They are telling the truth”

Tony shook his head, still not believing his words. His hands had started to shake, and not even Peter’s hand on his back seemed to calm him down. Not like the kid was doing any better, if the way he had paled at Vision’s words was any indicator. 

“No, it can't be… they’re dead, Vision. _He’s_ dead”

“I’m not,” Steve said, finally stepping into his home, taking advantage of the shock Tony and Peter were feeling, and the neutralness of the sorcerer. Slowly, he started getting closer to his husband, feeling a bit of relief when he saw Tony standing there, unmoving. He didn’t know if it was because of the shock entirely, or if Tony was giving a chance to explain himself, but either way, he had to take the opportunity“. It’s me, darling. And I’m sorry I was away for this long, I’ve never intended to, you have to believe me. The moment I woke up I wanted to go back to you and our son, and… it breaks me to know I had to be away for this long. Tony, it’s me, sweetheart. It’s me, and I still love you, and I still love how your hair curls if you don’t put anything on it, and I love the way you used to bring me tea to the Studio if, for one time, I was the one who got lost in time. I love you, and our son, and the life we had, which I promise on my mother’s life I didn’t intend on leaving. And, please, if you don’t believe me…” he took out the drawing he was still carrying in his chest pocket them, realizing it would be a perfect proof of his honesty (and cursing himself for not thinking about it sooner), and immediately he heard Peter’s gasp, clearly recognizing it. Tony opened his mouth in shock at the sight of it, too, hands shaking even more badly and some trait of realization finally crossing his features. Steve finally got to him, and, carefully, he rested a hand against Tony’s cheek, caressing his face sweet and gentle. Tony looked up, almost not breathing, maybe in fear of everything being a dream (and, God, Steve didn’t want to know if the genius had indeed dreamed about him coming home, to then wake up alone). His eyes were full of tears and suck mixed emotions it was impossible to know them all, and Steve smiled to him with all the love and devotion he could gather (which, to be fair, was a lot), brushing his thumb over his husband’s cheek, quickly cleaning the tear that had escaped his left eye. Tony finally moved, resting a hand over Steve’s much larger one. It was still shaking, but Steve’s was as well. It didn’t matter though: the important thing is that they were together, finally.

“Steve…?” He asked, his voice little and yet so full of hope. But who could blame him? He’d been doubting ever since Steve had started to talk- hell, even before that, when the feeling he had just felt when he was with his husband had returned full force at the sight of him. He’d been trying to deny it, to protect Peter and to protect himself from further heartbreak, but… then Vision had said it was really them, and then Steve had touched him and-he could recognize that touch _anywhere_.

“Yeah” the blond smiled, pressing their foreheads together, not bothering to clean his own tears “, it’s me, Love”

Tony laughed -a laugh that was that and also a sob of pure happiness- and put a shaky hand on his nape, bringing him closer to him, and finally kissing him with all the love he could, which, honestly, was a lot. Steve smiled into the kiss, his hand moving from Tony’s cheek to his waist, the other one still holding his son’s drawing, and tried to bath in all the love and devotion that was coming from his husband, tried to show him just as much, and then some.

“It’s you” Tony whispered before his lips, before kissing him again, and again, and again, not getting tired of it. He had spent thirteen years without his husband’s sweet lips, he was kissing him as much as he could now, thank you so much “. It’s you, it’s you, it’s you…”

“It’s me, my love”

“Oh, Vita Mia…”

Steve laughed, tears still pouring out of his eyes, hugging Tony to his body and hiding his face on his hair, kissing it sweetly. Just when he opened his eyes, however, he saw his son looking at him with wide eyes filled with tears, fidgeting with his hands and clearly in a loss for words, or without a clue on how to act next. Who could blame him though? He’d grown up without him, without a father, and to know he was back… Steve could understand his uneasiness in what to do next. However, he was his father, so that meant he had to show him and make sure he understood he was back in his life, always and forever. His hold on Tony became weaker and the inventor broke it, following his husband’s eyes and landing his gaze on their son. He smiled softly then and stepped aside, nodding towards Steve to tell him it was okay to go to Peter. Steve smiled towards his husband, and then stepped closer to Peter, feeling even more nervous than before. He’d known Tony still loved him, so the only issue had been to make him believe Steve was still alive. Peter, on the other hand… Steve didn’t know how he was going to react.

“Oh, Á Stór, I’m so sorry” he whispered, because honestly, he really was sorry, before almost running towards his son. Peter met him halfway and hugged him like when he was a kid, face hidden in his shoulder and arms around his middle, which immediately calmed Steve’s nerves down. This hug was different though, Steve realized, because his kid’s arms were able to touch each other in the back, and his face was no longer pressed against his stomach. Still, even when he was not hugging a kid anymore, the familiarity was still there, the feeling of hugging his entire world, of needing to protect it with everything he had. Steve was relieved to realize hugging Peter was still one of the best feelings in the entire world and, judging by how tight Peter was hugging him back, it seemed to be the same for his kid.

“Papa” he murmured against Steve’s shirt. The blond smiled and let his tears fall freely, kissing his son’s soft curls, feeling all his insides melt at being called Papa again. Hearing the relief and happiness in Peter’s voice was also amazing, especially after feeling as scared as he’d felt just a couple hours before.

“I’m sorry, baby, I’m so sorry… I wanted to be there for you, I… Bambi, I’m so sorry” the blond murmured, peppering his son’s head with kisses. Peter laughed shakily, and curled closer to him.

“It’s okay, Papa. You’re here now. You’re back, you’re here, you… that’s all that’s important”

Steve smiled, hugging his son tighter. Soon, he felt a hand on his arm, and Tony was suddenly there, right beside them. Steve opened his arms and welcomed his husband into the hug, laughing and crying at the same time. The hug felt amazing, better than everything he had ever felt in his life. He had the loves of his life there, with him, and they were _safe_ , and they were okay and they… God, they were back in his life, and he was back in their, and things were far from perfect, but oh, yet so very perfect. Once they broke the hug, Peter and Tony seemed to remember there were other people, too, and, while reluctantly, they broke the hug with Steve and greeted the other members of the team with looks of wonder in their faces. 

“Oh, dear brother” Tony said, hugging Bruce tight to his body. Peter went almost running to Bucky, who hugged him tight to his body and raised him from the floor, even walking some meters with him until they were back into the Penthouse.

“Uncle Bucky, you’re alive, oh my God” Peter whispered, receiving a laugh from his Uncle in response. 

“That’d be me” Thor interrupted them, stealing Peter from Bucky’s arms. The super soldier was going to complain, but then Tony hugged him, so he quickly forgot about it and he focused on hugging the engineer back.

“Uncle Thor!” Peter laughed, more happy than he had ever felt. His father -his _father_ \- was there, the rest of his family with him. When he’d saw him he had thought he was still suffering the gas effects. And then, when his Dad could see them, too, he’d thought they were some monsters or whatever, trying to mess with them. But, for some miracle, they were really there. His father, although older, looked just like Peter remembered him. He looked like home, his hug felt like that, too. It was his Papa, Peter didn’t have any more doubts. How, he couldn’t explain, not even after Natasha’s words, but… his family was there. _Alive_. 

Once they had all cried and hugged each other, Tony, now wrapped in Steve’s arms -Peter was also there, unable to stay away from his Papa-, remembered Stephen was also in the room.

“Oh yeah, er… sorry for calling you, Stephen, we truly thought…”

“It’s okay, I get it” the doctor smiled. Tony smiled back, grateful to be in good terms with him. At first, they had collided, bantering all the goddamn time. But, after some time, they had learned to work together, and they respected each other. Stephen was also a good friend, and sometimes he had dinner with Tony, Peter, Vision, and sometimes Fury.It was good to have someone like him on their team.

“Guys,” Tony said then “, this is Doctor Stephen Strange, the Supreme Sorcerer”

“Nice to meet you all,” Stephen said, smiling politely to everyone there “, certainly not something I saw coming”

“Wait, you’re a wizard?” Sam asked.

“A sorcerer, to be more precise. And, also, the guardian of the Time Stone”

“You have the Time Stone?” Steve asked, surprised. Stephen nodded, smiling to the Captain, happy that his ally, and also friend, had his husband back.

“If I can ask” Bucky suddenly said, and then pointed to Vision “, who’s that?”

“Oh, er… that’s Vision” Tony answered, and there was a faint tone of sadness in his words “, he… well, he’s what we have left of JARVIS”

“What?” Wanda asked, shocked.

“A couple of years ago… well, we had some problems. JARVIS fell, and, in an attempt of, somehow, keep him alive, Vision was born” Tony said, sighing “. He’s not JARVIS, but… he was created from him”

“So, who controls the Tower now?” Natasha asked. Tony smiled, and looked at the ceiling.

“Hey girl, you with us?”

“As always, sir” A different voice than they were all used to answer.

“How about you introduce yourself, honeybee?”

“Of course, Sir. My name is FRIDAY. I’m a learning AI, running this Tower and Mister Stark’s suits”

“Nice to meet you, FRIDAY” Steve smiled. He was sad JARVIS was gone, but FRIDAY didn’t deserve any of that sadness.

“Nice to meet you, too. How do you wish to be addressed?”

“Steve’s fine, thanks, FR-”

“He’s my husband, FRI, so you know how it goes”

“Oh! Of course. Welcome home, Boss’ Boss”

“Tony” Steve whined. Tony just laughed, and then pecked his lips, glad he was able to do it again. Steve only smiled in response, just as happy as Tony. It was silly, because he had been gone two weeks in his mind, but he was missing Tony like crazy. The reality was settling in, he figured. A few moments later Fury finally arrived at the Penthouse, smiling big when he saw them all together, and seemingly happy (over the moon, he would’ve dared to say).

“Oh, you’re all lovely again! Never thought I’d say this but it is a nice thing to see you all wrapped up in each other, especially after all of this time” he smiled. Tony smiled back, still in Steve’s arms, and not planning on getting out of there anytime soon. 

“Tony, if it’s okay with you, I’ll leave now” Strange said then, smiling gently at the group “, I’m happy for you guys, although I do want to know how this was possible”

“You and I, Doctor” Tony sighed “. But, yeah, I don’t mind. Thanks for coming”

“Not a problem” Stephen smiled once again, and then, with a nod as a goodbye, created a portal and disappeared.

“I don’t know if that’s cool, or creepy,” Sam said, smiling “. I’ll go for both”

“Is he a part of the New Avengers?” Steve asked, curious. All the jealously had ridiculously disappeared, and now he just wanted to find as many things as he could about his husband and their son, and the life he’d missed.

“More or less. He comes to help in almost every mission, we just have to make it official” his husband answered “. He’s a great ally to have, that’s for sure”

“Who are the other members of the team?” Natasha asked, going over to the living room and taking a seat because, as much as they could’ve been asleep for years, they all felt exhausted. The others followed her, taking in the differences of the room discreetly. The furniture was in the same layout, but the furniture was new, and the TV, and now there were other pictures put in there, pictures that had been taken over the years as Peter grew up, Tony by his side. There were more books, and other minimal yet incredibly domestic things, and it was clear it was the home of two geniuses (if the science puns in some pictures or even cushions and blankets were anything to go by), one of them still pretty young.

“Well, we have Peter over here” Tony said, sitting down in the main couch. Steve sat down next to him, his son at his other side. The young superhero raised his hand, timid, and Steve smiled to his son, wanting him to feel more secure about his role in the new team. He was sure Peter deserved it, after all “. Also, Rhodey is in the team. Doctor Strange helps us, Vision is on the team as well, and we have Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne as recurring allies”

“A.k.a Ant-man and the Wasp” Peter chirped in, smiling to his family and desperately trying to wrap his head around the fact they were really there. It was hard to understand, that was for sure. 

“There’s Ant-Man, a Wasp, and Spiderman?” Bruce asked, surprised. Tony laughed and nodded, still feeling like he was dreaming a bit, and Fury cleared his throat to claim their attention, figuring it was right to talk before the soppy stuff was said.

“Okay, guys, it’s time to get serious. I’ve sent people to the island you were trapped in: they’ll find out what happened. Meanwhile, we have to get you guys out again. You certainly are not dead, and that means a lot of paperwork. Also: press. Someone has to do a press conference, talk about this”

“Yeah, but who?” Steve asked, frowning“, we can’t just go out there”

“I could,” Tony said, although he looked unsure. Steve put his arm around his husband, feeling relieved when Tony relaxed against him, rather than tense up.

“I don’t know, Tones” Fury sighed, shaking his head at the same time“, I don’t know if that’s our best option. This is some serious stuff, and I can count the number of times you’ve been really serious with the fingers of my right hand. I think we could find a better solution”

“I could do it” Peter chirped in, blushing a bit when everyone looked at him. He looked at Tony for a moment before, relaxing a bit when his Dad smiled at him and talked again “. People will listen to me, right? I’m usually more serious than Dad. Plus, the press loves drama, and I’m his son” he said, pointing to Steve “, they’ll love it, you know? Makes a good narrative”

“That’s a good idea” the director said, smiling. The rest of the team was simply observing the young man, still trying to process the fact that the young adult was, in fact, Peter, the kid they’d known all those years before “. I’m sure people won’t doubt your words, and you can give an even more dramatic tone to it all”

“Sounds good” Tony sighed. Steve bit his bottom lip, looking at his son and not quite liking the way Peter still seemed a bit defensive. He cradled a hand through Peter’s unruly curls, gently, just as he had done when Peter was a kid.

“Are you sure, sweetheart? If it’s uncomfortable…”

“I’m good, Papa, don’t worry. I’ve done press conferences before” Peter said, smiling to him in a way that was an exact copy of Tony’s smile. Steve couldn’t help but smile back; after all, Peter had been raised by Tony, so the blond trusted his son to have the confidence and strength to go through it.

“Oh yeah, like the one we had to do when you had to come out as Spiderman” Tony intervened then with an evil smile. Peter could see what his father was doing, trying to somehow alleviate the tension, and he was grateful for it. He didn’t know if the others realized it, or if they didn’t know enough about them yet, so he simply went with it and groaned while rolling his eyes, head falling against Steve’s arm.

“Why do you always remind me of that one, huh? Why?” He protested. Tony laughed softly at him, throwing him a cushion that Peter avoided without looking, hitting Fury instead. The team was even more surprised when the director simply rolled his eyes at the two geniuses.

“‘Cause you made a mess worth of my worst days, kiddo” The engineer replied then, catching the pillow when Fury threw it back. Peter rolled his eyes again, and yeah, the team thought: it was almost freaky how much he actually looked and acted like Tony.

“It wasn’t _that_ bad, Dad, c’mon” the young superhero protested, ignoring his Dad and Fury’s scoff at his words.

“Whatever you say…” Tony murmured. Steve smiled at his boys’ interaction. He loved to see Tony and Peter together, always had. His husband had always feared to be a bad father for their kid, but he was the best Steve could’ve imagined. And Peter, being the man that he was, only proved it. 

“Do I have to be afraid to ask what happened?”

“Yes/No” his son and husband answered, respectively. Peter gave a death stare to his father then, ignoring the way Tony was smiling at him. He then looked at his other father and tried to put the most innocent look on his face “. It wasn’t that bad, Papa, Dad is just… exaggerating”

“Kiddo, you were accused of being an international terrorist” Fury deadpanned, which only made Peter blush and the rest of the team stare at him, shocked.

“What?” Steve exclaimed.

“See, it’s a funny story” Peter snickered “, and, like, so not my fault”

“We agree there” Tony intervened “. Mostly. I still think you should’ve called after he hit you with a train”

“He did what?” Steve exclaimed, now accompanied by various members of the family. Peter held up one finger, turning on his side to look at his father.

“Are you _ever_ gonna get over that?”

“Never, kid. You called _Happy_ ”

“Whom you assigned to be my personal security guard since, like, middle school, so I was just doing what you wanted”

“That’s manipulation” Tony complained.

“No, that’s being clever. That’s also not wanting one of your ‘I told-you-so’ talks… although, I _did_ get one of those, so really, I was only postponing the inevitable. Still, it was Beck’s fault, not mine”

“And that’s the part we agree” Tony nodded “. He was an asshole”

“Truly” Peter nodded. Steve cleared his throat then, still trying to process the conversation between his husband and his clone he’d just heard.

“I’m sorry, who did hit you with a train, Peter?” He asked. Peter looked at him then with wide eyes, just as if he was realizing Steve had, indeed, not known about that information.

“Crap” he murmured “, forgot… It doesn’t matter. Er, well… it was… er… Dad, back me up here”

“Oh, watching is way more fun” Tony laughed, gaining another stare from his son. 

“I’ll tell Pepper you erased everything in her agenda when she wasn’t looking just to get out of the meetings with the San Francisco investor”

“You wouldn’t” Tony immediately said, feigning hurt. Peter smiled sideways and, seriously, the whole team thought, since when was Peter a carbon copy of Tony?

“Try me. I’m her favorite, she’ll believe me”

“He’s got a point” Fury said “. Also, where is Tessa?”

“In Peter’s room, I thought we were gonna have visitors” Tony murmured “. Also, not the point. Steve wants to know what happened in the Europe trip and I don’t want Pepper to skin me alive now that my husband and the rest of our family is back, so let’s tell them about Peter’s fun Europe trip”

Peter groaned again and accepted his fate, knowing his Papa had to catch up with his life. It seemed still pretty unreal, and he knew he would take a while to truly accept his father was back in his life (if he ever did so), so he was taking one step at a time. Acting sort of normal and telling the story of what was probably one of his worst trips ever (like, top five… or top three, the train really did hurt) was something to get to normality again or, well, as close as they could really get, right?

So they stayed ‘till late telling the story, and then telling what happened after, the press conference and the world’s reaction. To say the team was shocked was an understatement, especially because Peter was acting like Tony more and more as the night went on, and he got more comfortable around them. Still, it was nice to be back there, even when they were aware of all the work they still had left. By the time they all decided to go to bed, Peter discreetly left with his Uncle Bucky, telling him he was going to sleep in his Guest bedroom for the night. His Papa’s red face, his Dad’s smile, and the hysterics laugh of his Uncle Bucky made Peter really, really happy.

Plus, he was right.

And now… the only thing left? Tell the world. And find their new place with each other. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiii again! so, still a few things have to happen, and i want to include some fluff in here, because we all need it
> 
> still, i really hope you guys enjoyed the penultimate chapter of this story!
> 
> PLEASE tell me in the comments what you guys thought of it! it seriously keeps me going. also, if you have any prompt for superfamily one-shots, please don't be afraid to tell me. aaaalso, a quick remark: i know the age of peter's identity reveal doesn't match up with ffh, or the trip to europe. in truth, i wrote this before ffh came out, so i didn't know what was gonna happen. hence, it doesn't add up and, while it still happened like in the movie (the identity reveal), the events leading up to it were slightly different. hope it makes sense.
> 
> i love you all 3000!

**Author's Note:**

> well, it's done! before any of you can freak out, there will be more parts, don't worry haha this isn't done yet!
> 
> PLEASE let me know what you thought about this story, and tell me if you want to see something specific! bye!


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